Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / April 18, 1991, edition 2 / Page 8
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COVER STORY ? ? ? This crown belongs to There are times when compelling desire transcends all logic, lifting one to greater heights ? even in the face of a bad situation. Winston-Salem State's Donnell Rawls has first-hand experiences in such matters. It's the reason why he limped off .the mats as a national collegiate wrestling ^champion. Rawls (24-2) emerged as the NCAA ! Division Q titlist at 118 lbs. by refusing to "You usually try to keep people away from you in : that kind of situation. I ! had to stay on the offen sive to make him aware that I was going to contin ue to try and score more | points. I worked hard to get to the finals. / couldn't fpse because of an auikle. 9 ' ' | . ' t ? Donnell Rawls let dog day circumstances ruin his moment of glory. But ? his climb to the top of the heap was anything but a Sunday stroll in the park. ; * Acre's the scenario. N : ? Things had gone very well for Rawls during the championships. The sophomore prevailed in every succeeding round. He even beat "Jie division's top seed. So there he was, in the finals, with a two point lead and time panning out in the third and final period. Suddenly, everything went awry. In the p'/ocess of going for a take-down, Rawls tore some ankle ligaments. He had no j injury time-outs left and the clock read 1:45 to go. Sensing that Rawls was hurt badly, North Dakota State's Brett Maughan attempted to sieze the opportunity to put his opponent away. But Rawls neglected his personal agony and a bothersome nose bleed. For 105 seconds, he garnered j resolve from parts unknown, scored anoth er point, kept Maughan on the defensive, and gutted out a 6-3 triumph. The eventual champion hung tough in the face of a hostile crowd. Maughan, a senior, was wrestling on his home turf at the Bison Sports Arena in Fargo, ND. All he needed was a take-down to tie the . match and swing the momentum in his favor, but Rawls never cooperated. "Vrm ucit aIIv f rv tn keen neonle awav r . from you in that kind of situation," Rawls said, referring to his predicament in the finals. "I had to stay on the offensive to make him aware that I was going to contin ue to try and score more points. I worked hard to get to the finals. I couldn't lose because of an ankle." Mellon llardce, Winston-Salem State wrestling coach, knew that his guy was in deep trouble late in the match. At that point, words and workable strategy coming from coach was Rawls' only hope of secur ing a national crown. "You can't stop now. We're up on points," Hardee advised Rawls. "Just stay low, shoot in, get his ankle and lift up." Rawls followed the instructions to the letter. "That was the key," Hardee says. "He attempted to do what 1 told him and he implemented it. Aside from that, all I could do was keep thinking of positive things to tell him." The WSSl/ sophomore entered the '91 nationals as a known commodity, but not too highly regarded as the fifth seed. It didn't matter. Rawls provided proved his point from the start with these kinds of nerformances. ? Dominated Grand Valley State's Scott Marvin, 8-1 in the quarterfinals. Marvin was the No: 4 seed. ? Pulled off an 8-6 upset of top-seeded Rich Douglas of St. Cloud State in the semi-finals. At last year's nationals, Dou glas handled Rawls easily and finished as the Division II rtinnef-t*p. Rawls pktceti msnrr 'WmKm ? f l'-:. Photo by Max DunNt r . Hardee approves of Rawls* active style. But the coach contends that Rawls' true strength is his finely tuned sense of chang ing styles to fit specific situations. "You can't predict what Donnell will do," Hardee explains. "Coaches who've scouted him \iere never able to really pin pwnt whm moves he s likely to make, iic
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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April 18, 1991, edition 2
8
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