Maus comes close at nationals

Earlier this season, head wrestling coach David Schutter said freshman Ryan Maus reminded him of former Truman wrestler Merrick Meyer.

Maus finished 1-2 at the national meet last weekend and was the only Truman wrestler to advance to the national meet. After the national tournament, the comparison between the two could be considered stronger.

First, both Maus and Meyer are in the 141-pound weight class. Second, both wrestlers won at least 30 matches during their freshman year. Meyer finished 32-11 during his first year as a Bulldog, and Maus finished 30-14. Finally, Meyer and Maus both advanced to the national meet during their freshman year but did not place.

"I felt it was a really good season," Maus said. "Honestly, I didn't think I was going to have that good of record. I wasn't even sure I was going to have a winning record. I wrestled a lot better than I thought I was going to."

Maus started his national tournament with sophomore Deral Brown from Newberry University (S.C). Brown was 30-11 and 16-6 going into the match against Maus.

The first match of the day went into extra time, with Brown earning a 3-1 victory. Schutter said Brown made an excellent move to capture the win.

"[Maus] wrestled that match real strategically and had everything going our way," Schutter said. "And then we get into the overtime, and for some reason, they have lots of trouble with the clocks at the national tournament. Not just our matches, but all of them. It took them over two minutes to get that clock cleared off to start the overtime. The Brown kid got a huge rest going into that overtime. He was dead tired after the regular seven-minute period match. If he doesn't get that rest, he probably doesn't have the energy to execute his takedown move."

With the loss, Maus moved to the wrestle back round. His next match a few hours later was against sophomore Kyle Wilson of Grand Canyon University (Ariz.). Wilson finished the season with an 18-12 record but was 18-10 going into the national tournament.

Maus bounced back from his earlier loss and picked up a fall win. The win was his first in the national tournament and his 30th of the season.

"It speaks to his preparation and desire," Schutter said. "He was able to put a loss behind him and come back to get a win. Not many kids can do that."

With another win, Maus would have been guaranteed an All-American honor. Standing in his way was San Francisco State University junior Naveed Bagheri. Bagheri finished the season 32-8 and was an All-American as a freshman.

Bagheri got the best of Maus, coming away with a 3-1 win.

"It's a real tough tournament," Maus said. "It was much tougher than I thought it was going to be. I was a round away from placing. I don't know, it kind of sucks [that I didn't place]. If anything, I came away with some experience. Hopefully next year I can get it done."

Maus added MIAA Freshman of the Year honors and four regional wins to his national championship appearance. He also was 6-1 in dual matches during the season.

To continue on the same path Meyer took, Maus will have to continue to improve. Meyer finished with 130 wins, the most in Truman history. He also won an individual national championship during his junior season.

"You kind of get the nerves a little bit, never being [at nationals] before and wrestling in front of all of those people on such a big stage," Maus said. "You get those jitters out of the way first. Next year I'll come back a little more confident and know how to wrestle."