The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1059287
wrestlers. Another was Matt Reiss, a District 11 product — like Turner and Guzzo — who never won a high school state title but captured NC State wrestling's first national championship in 1980. Despite not turning 18 years old until the end of first semester, Turner was good from the start for Guzzo. He won the 142-pound ACC title as a freshman in 1984 and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler. He even won a match at the NCAA Championships before his season ended with an overtime loss to the No. 7 seed. The next year, Turner repeated as an ACC champ and returned to the NCAA Championships — this time at 150 pounds. Entering as the ninth seed, he again found himself in overtime with his season on the line in the second round. This time, he beat the fourth seed. He moved on to the quarter- finals and went to overtime again — but with time ticking down, he landed on his head and "was paralyzed for about 15 minutes, where I couldn't feel anything. It took me about a month before I could fully turn my head both directions. That was a little bit scary." He had to injury default out of the tournament, while the guy that barely beat him placed fourth. For the second time in two years, Turner's year ended without claiming a spot on the podium. Despite that, he entered his junior campaign established as one of the country's best, but cracked a rib in the East-West All-Star meet. After missing almost four weeks, he returned at the ACC Championships. He had not even practiced before competing at the conference tournament and had a close loss in the finals to a competitor he soundly defeated earlier in the year. He was back to 100 percent by the time the NCAA Champion- ships rolled around, though, and looked at the time off as a positive. "I was able to train pretty hard between ACCs and nationals, and I was probably a little bit fresher than a lot of guys," he admitted. Turner entered as the ninth seed and finished third for his first All-America honor. But, as usual, he was so close to so much more. He beat the returning third-place finisher via a 17-1 tech fall in the second round, and then topped Iowa State's Tim Krieger, the first col- legian to earn the national No. 1 seed four times, in overtime during the quarterfinals. But he got caught looking past his semifinals opponent and fell by a 7-4 decision, missing out on a chance to meet rival Jim Heffernan of Iowa in the finals. "I just took it for granted," Turner remembered. "I thought, 'I'm on a roll, I'm going to kill this guy and then I'm going to wrestle Heffernan again.' "Heffernan was the guy I wrestled when I cracked my rib in the East-West meet. I was already focused on Heffernan and learned a big lesson — you take it one match at a time." Turner can still recall Heffernan coming up to him during the pre-championship-match Parade Of Champions and thanking him for beating Krieger — who Heffernan faced many times but rarely, if ever, beat — before dominating in the finals. The trio of Krieger, Heffernan and Turner won four straight NCAA crowns at 150 pounds and combined for seven of the possible 10 finals appearances from 1985-89. The 1986 semifinals loss stung, as they all do, but what happened drove Turner all offseason to prepare for a big senior sendoff. A knee injury suffered in the first match of what was supposed to be his final campaign derailed those plans. Since he couldn't run to cut weight, he considered wrestling up at 158 pounds, but the coaches decided it best to operate on the knee and come back the following season at 100 percent since he had not redshirted. Turner made the best of the time away, noting he "became a stu- dent of the sport" and honed in on technique — something he had not done before. He was also more motivated than ever and remembers thinking that with one last shot, he better reach his goal of the top spot on the podium, a feat that evaded him during the end-of-year tournaments on the prep level and so far in college. "The fire just started burning brighter and brighter," he said. "The way I looked at it was to put it all on the line. "Whether you win or lose, it doesn't matter as long as you can look yourself in the mirror and say you did everything possible to put yourself in the best position." That was his mindset, but the long-awaited return to the mat did not start the way anybody envisioned. Turner recalls tying a wrestler from Minnesota in his season debut and then losing to Krieger. The fifth-year senior with national championship aspirations made The Long Road To The Top Scott Turner Won A National Championship And Continues To Thrive Despite Detours, Disappointments And Injuries WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Scott Turner Wrestling (1984-88) Age: 53 Living: Hermosa Beach, Calif. Occupation: Regional sales manager, IDEXX Laboratories Did You Know? The three-time ACC champion served two years as a team captain and is still eighth in school history with 94 career wins. His .820 winning percentage (94-19-4) ranks ninth all time. JANUARY 2019 ■ 63