Despite missing out on spot in Spain, Matthews excited by performance
Cole Matthews showed amazing body control in winning the 65-kilogram title at the Under-23 Freestyle World Team Trials in Ohio earlier this month.
The only thing he couldn’t control is what will keep him from wrestling in the World Championships in Spain this October.
Yianni Diakomihalis will represent the U.S. there as well as at the Senior World Championships in Serbia a month later. Diakomihalis was eligible for the U23 team trials but did not compete in it. Instead, he concentrated on making the senior team, which he did, sweeping a best-of-three series with Pennsylvania native Evan Henderson at Final X New York.
After several weeks of weighing his options, the Cornell wrestler, who will be seeking a fourth NCAA title in 2023, announced he would compete on both world teams.
“Obviously, it doesn’t make me happy, but I should have had an idea that someone with the opportunity that he’s getting, why not since he already earned it?” Matthews said last week. “I can be upset all I want about it, but it was his spot. I was just hoping that if he made the Senior World Team, I could take the U23 spot.”
Some wrestling fans complained on Twitter that the process was flawed, allowing Diakomihalis to represent the U.S. without wrestling at that age-level event. Matthews isn’t interested in jumping into that debate.
“Whether it’s fair or not, I can only do what I can do to make the team,” Matthews said. “I didn’t make Final X like he did, so he had that option. It was confusing for a lot of people. I was rooting for him because I thought he was going to make the senior team and not take the U23 spot.”
Matthews also doesn’t begrudge Diakomihalis for his decision.
“I’ve got no hate for him,” he said. “I’m not a hateful person. I hope he goes and wins it, though – both of them.”
Meanwhile, Matthews took plenty of positives out of his performance in Ohio, where he beat NCAA finalist Ridge Lovett of Nebraska in the semifinals and Ohio State’s Dylan D’Emilio in the championship series.
“I was wrestling pretty well,” Matthews said. “That’s some of the best wrestling that I’ve put together in all of my college career so far. Even though they were tight at the end, we still pulled them off.”
Matthews finished fifth at March’s NCAA tournament in Detroit and will be the top returning 141-pounder in the country this season. Logic would seem to dictate that his defensive style – he’s extremely difficult to finish takedowns on – would make him a better suited to folkstyle, but his recent performance – and his own beliefs – may prove otherwise.
“I think I’m getting better at both, but I think I’m better at freestyle than folkstyle,” he said. “I think I’m better at it because I like it more. I like the two periods. I like the six minutes. I like getting back to our feet. … I don’t always have to go to my back to scramble like I do in folkstyle. I’m good at controlling my body in freestyle enough that I can win scrambles without going to my back.”
He proved that against Lovett in the semifinals, where a wild sequence didn’t result in any points.
“You would have thought one of us would have crossed our back three or four times but neither of us did,” Matthews said. “Our hips were flying around. It was crazy.”
Matthews used a late crotch lift for the 6-5 victory over the Nebraska wrestler, who lost 11-5 to Diakomihalis in the NCAA final at 149 pounds.
In the best-of-3 finals, Matthews beat D’Emilio in two straight. In the opener, Matthews trailed on criteria with 20 seconds remaining, but he scored a takedown on a go-behind and turned the Buckeye with a gut wrench for a 10-6 victory. In the second match, D’Emilio led 4-3 with 1:20 remaining, but two more crotch lifts paved the way to an 8-4 victory.
Even though he won’t get to represent the U.S. in Spain, the championship run should be a confidence booster for Matthews, who seems to have jumped levels since having knee surgery last year.
“I think it’s really on the up from where I am right now,” he said. “I’ve come a long way already, but I haven’t made the national finals, I haven’t won the Hodge Trophy. I haven’t made a world team. I have so many more things to do. I don’t see myself declining in this process at all.”