Reporter's Notebook | Mania — on and off the mat

The last time I ventured out to the Wells Fargo Center for a major wrestling event was in third grade.

March 28, 1999: WrestleMania XV.

So I arrived at the NCAA Wrestling Championships Friday night with an exposure to the sport limited to a childhood fascination with phony villains and heroes mock-fighting in staged matches.

I left with an appreciation for a thrilling tournament that gets overshadowed by the hardwood version’s bracket mania each year.

It turns out the real Madness in March happens on the mat — and continues off it.

As much as I enjoyed learning the ins and outs of a sport that combines brutal physicality with skillful technique, it was seeing the grapplers backstage that spawned my admiration.

Win or lose, each competitor left the floor with an impassioned facial expression the likes of which I had never encountered. A look of exhaustion, of pain, of extreme competitiveness. No one could question the heart and soul each athlete poured into every match.

In the hallways of the stadium, I heard f-bombs of infuriation and elation. I saw wrestlers brooding, pacing and praying before matches — and crying after. I saw bloody noses, blackened eyes and battered knees. I saw raw, heat-of-the-moment emotion.

Such scenes result from a tournament that crowns champions over an action-packed three days, but can turn in an instant. With the hook of a leg or the chop of an arm, a wrestler can be reduced from national title contender to a mere footnote.

If you think the hoops tournament is wild, take a look at the wrestling brackets. Sixteen grapplers seeded ninth or higher — including seven who came in unseeded — stood at the podium Saturday night as top-eight All-Americans at their weightclasses. Penn State’s ninth-seeded 184-pounder Quentin Wright became a national champion.

Included in the tourney’s Cinderella stories was the Quakers’ own Zack Kemmerer, Penn’s lone All-American. The 12th-seeded 141-pounder experienced the whirlwind of post-match emotions: he was knocked out in the second round and stormed back to win three wrestlebacks matches before losing twice and finishing in eighth.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Kemmerer said after becoming Penn’s 14th different All-American in wrestling. “I’ve had a lot of setbacks and it’s great to finally break through for once. I feel like I put the work in.”

He released a heavy sigh. “Thank God.”

Even more remarkable was Arizona State’s Anthony Robles (125), born without a right leg. In Saturday night’s first match — when the frantic six-matches-at-once setup of the opening rounds gave way to a grand, elevated stage in the center of the arena — Robles won a national title. The crowd of 17,687 gave him a rousing standing ovation.

For sheer entertainment value, Robles’ 157-pound teammate Bubba Jenkins stole the show in the championship round. Jenkins brings a swagger rarely seen in the straitlaced world of wrestling, and the Penn State transfer silenced boos with a vengeful victory over the Nittany Lions’ “Golden Boy,” previously undefeated freshman David Taylor.

“That’s a machine out there — that was the Penn State kid,” Jenkins said at a press conference that resembled some of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s, “and I found ways to break it and disassemble it.”

Fans on the subway to the event wondered whether Robles could really pull it off. They left marveling at the 22-year-old, and most were still stunned by Jenkins’ pin of Taylor.

The tight-knit wrestling community turned out in record numbers — from Happy Valley to Ithaca, N.Y., to Boise, Idaho — adding electricity to the fast-paced event.

But the drama can be summed up best through the eyes of Penn assistant coach Matt Valenti, a two-time national champion. First Valenti was left heartbroken after watching his pupil Rollie Peterkin fall one win shy of All-America status.

During the 141-pound Round of 12, Valenti hugged Kemmerer in celebration of his victory, and then sprinted to the other side of the arena. There, he watched his brother, Derek, wrestling for Virginia, join him as an All-American.

“He came into this tournament unseeded. Nobody expected him to do anything,” Valenti said. “And now he’s an All-American.”

I turned off my recorder and congratulated Valenti.

“Great tournament, isn’t it?” he responded.

Beats the hell out of WrestleMania.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.