THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 16, 1995 TAG: 9503160544
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
When Old Dominion senior Jody Staylor talks about his stellar wrestling career, he doesn't often mention a void.
There's no need to. The three-time Virginia state champion from Great Bridge High School can count his collegiate losses on one hand.
Still, he says, albeit reluctantly, something is missing.
``There'll always be that void there if I don't actually achieve that goal of being a national champion,'' says Staylor, who is 18-1 this year at ODU.
Staylor will get his final shot at a national title when the NCAA Championships begin today at the University of Iowa.
Staylor, the NCAA runner-up at 126 pounds last year, will wrestle at 134. He will be joined at the nationals by ODU heavyweight Nick Hall (27-2), ranked ninth, and 167-pounder Chris Todd (20-8) from Cox High.
Pressure? Nah, says Staylor, who looks as if he's just stepped off a surfboard. Wearing a blue tie-dye T-shirt and black sunglasses, his near-shoulder-length blond hair is flattened by a ball cap as he spends time in the sun with his Chesapeake Bay retriever, Mar.
``I'm as relaxed as I've been in four years,'' he says.
Staylor has dabbled with mental imagery and relaxation techniques, and much of the pressure he had placed on himself has disappeared. He attributes that largely to an early-season loss to William and Mary's Khalil Abdul-Malik.
``The whole year, my focus in my matches was I couldn't lose, and I hadn't lost since the finals of nationals,'' says Staylor, who last year became ODU's first NCAA finalist. ``I was saying if I don't lose until nationals, I'll keep it going. That was the wrong place for the focus to be. It should have been on my matches and preparing for my matches.''
Staylor has been to the nationals twice before - both times as a 126-pounder - and coming into his senior year, he was ranked first in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News at that weight. But he says he would have had trouble making weight at 126 this season.
``If I was to make it down to 126, I don't really know how much strength I would have kept with me,'' he says. ``I know I would probably have to cut into my muscle to make it.''
As for the 8-pound difference on the mat?
``A lot of people say the difference between 26 and 34 could be the biggest jump between any two weight classes,'' he says. ``I think it's going to hurt me a little bit strength-wise, but I can hold my own as long as I can use my quickness and athletic ability.''
Monarchs coach Gray Simons had no reservations about moving Staylor to the larger weight.
``It's a better weight for him,'' he says. ``I think he has a possibility of winning a national championship.''
Staylor lost last year's NCAA final, 2-1, to Cornell's David Hirsch on a technical violation. But the two-time All-American is not one to dwell on losses, and as he prepares to leave collegiate wrestling, he has allowed himself to look back at some of the wins.
After amassing 123 victories - and no losses - at Great Bridge, the highly recruited Staylor chose North Carolina. But despite winning an ACC championship and reaching the NCAA semifinals as a freshman, he struggled in the classroom and under head coach Bill Lamm. The next year he transferred to ODU. He has no regrets despite sitting out a year because Lamm would not release him from his commitment.
``It was so miserable and the team was so miserable,'' he says of his freshman year. ``It could have backfired on me to the point where I would have quit wrestling altogether. I think I made a very wise choice coming to ODU.''
Of all his successes as a Monarch, Staylor says his sudden-death overtime victory in the NCAA semifinals stands out the most. At the start of the second OT period, his opponent won the coin toss and chose the bottom position.
``I finally got a hold on him and held him down,'' Staylor recalls with a slow smile. ``There was about two seconds left and I was facing the clock, watching the seconds tick down.''
Despite his dominance on the mat, Staylor believes he will have more success on the sidelines. He will graduate with a degree in physical education after he completes student teaching.
``I've always been characterized as being a really good wrestler,'' Staylor says. ``But for some reason, I have this belief that I'm going to be a better coach.''
And if he were coaching Jody Staylor for this week's meet, what advice would he give?
``Be aggressive, and for seven minutes go as hard as you can. Be smart. A lot of times when people get out there amid all the hoopla of the tournament, they lose their head.''
Other South Hampton Roads wrestlers who qualified for the nationals, along with their weight class, record and former high school: VMI's Aaron Mickiewicz (126, 22-8, Green Run), Adam Mickiewicz (134, 20-9, Kellam) and Jeremy Ingram (150, 24-8, Kellam); George Mason's Rob Barlow (177, 18-2, Kempsville) and Cornell's Carlos Eason (177, 19-9, Great Bridge). ILLUSTRATION: Photo
BILL TIERNAN/Staff
ODU senior Jody Staylor is ranked seventh in the nation at 134
pounds. This is his third trip to the NCAA nationals.
by CNB