Thought I might share a little information on Matt Murray. Matt earned a West-Central Zone Championship over the weekend and added yet another Outstanding Wrestler award to his list of accolades.

Matt's official record for the 2001-02 season now stands at 33-1. His sole loss was a 9-7 decision to Roderick Ratcliff, a junior from NCAA DII powerhouse Nebraska-Omaha. Mr. Ratcliff has already earned two college All-American honors and will likely earn two more.

Matt did have an "un-official" loss in the early season to Neosho County Community College's Bogdan Cuifulescu. But the loss is not counted in official NJCAA win-loss records because it was in a best 2 out of 3 takedown tournament and not a standard sanctioned match - by the way that match ended in a sudden victory takedown for Cuifulescu after 4 1/2 minutes of competition.

Bogdan Cuifulescu is a 30-something year old from Romania and was the Juco national champion at 133 pounds in 2000 - he redshirted last season because NJCAA sanctions kept Neosho from competing in the national tournament a year ago. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that Mr. Cuifulescu competed in the Olympics for his native Romania.

By the way, can you guess who Matt beat to win his West-Central Zone Championship???? You guessed it, Matt beat Cuifulescu in an exciting 1-0 match on the strength of an escape in the second period.

Other big wins for Matt this season include two wins (both by fall) over last season's 125 pound champion at high school nationals in Delaware - Steven Esparza, who currently competes for Oklahoma State University. He pinned Montana State-Northern's Dusty May (formerly of Derby, KS) - Matt was ahead 7-0 when he recorded the fall. He beat a 4-time state champ from Nebraska named Kasey Kohl by a 7-0 score at the Kearney Open. And he also beat another Kansas 4-time state champ - Dusty Spaulding who wrestles for the Univ of Nebraska. Yes, Spaulding was sporting a cast to protect an injured thumb, but that should not have impacted his ability to escape from Matt, who recorded just short of five minutes of riding time in the match and kept Spaulding from scoring until an escape in the closing seconds of his 4-1 win.

Matt has earned six tournament championships this season and was the outstanding wrestler at four meets.

As for next year, unless he did so over the weekend, Matt has not yet publically committed to compete for anyone yet.

It would be tough to choose Matt's most impressive attribute. His athletic prowess, his 4.00 GPA in an engineering curriculum and his modest demeanor are all impressive. But his current coach, Steve Lampe, indicates that it is all of those qualities, plus Matt's unyielding desire to improve his technique each day that makes him so special on the mat and in life.

Good luck at NJCAA Nationals Matt. All of us associated with Colby College wrestling hope you - and the five other CCC national tournament qualifiers (Derek Jones, Bryan Miller, O.T. Johnson, Antonio Sepulveda and Rafael Ruiz) - earn your national championship(s). We also wish you the best next year - whether its for Colby or someone else. We are truly better for having known you.

Go Trojans!