Brewer earned a fall, three majors and a decision en route to capturing his first NCAA championship. Tony Rotundo photo. Continued from page 26
Minnesota. Brewer rolled to a 15-3 major decision. Dardanes was one of eight undefeated wrestlers entering the NCAAs.
On Saturday night at the NCAA tournament, Brewer would be the last man standing at 133 pounds. For Brewer, the hard work paid off and he could do nothing else but remember his journey. “You think about all the tough times you had during the year, the injury I had, the weight problems coming back from the injury and just believing in myself again that I could wrestle and I could do it.
“Having all the naysayers say things to you, you block it out and say to yourself I can do it. This is my time to show those people that I can wrestle with the biggest names in the country. At that moment it all came together for me,” Brewer said. Brewer is now the second NCAA champion that Mark Cody has coached during his four-year stint at Oklahoma, with the other being Kendric Maple who won the 141-pound title in 2013. “I got a little bit emotional because he is such a great kid and I am so happy he got the success he has had,” Cody said. “It’s
just a wonderful feeling because you know as a coach that at least for one night you can relax and feel good about the direc- tion that things are going.”
With Coach Cody and Brewer leading the way, the Oklahoma program is striving to return to national prominence and redefine what it means to be successful in college wrestling and beyond. “We are doing a lot of work here. Coach Cody has changed this program dramatically, not only academics, not only wrestling, but just making us better people,” Brewer said. “In the end, wrestling is not going to last forever. In the end, no matter where we go or what we do, he is making us better people to get to that point.”
Brewer remains uncertain as to whether he will remain at 133 pounds or bump up to 141 pounds for his senior season. Regardless of what weight he will wrestle next season, the mission is the same and the avenue to success will not change. “Wrestling is my life, other than my schoolwork, wrestling is what I put all this time into, so why not me?” Brewer said. “It’s up to me and I have to make that choice and step up and wres- tle like I know I can.”
27 USA Wrestler
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