Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/491635
| T. LOUIS – Initially, his focus laid elsewhere. Morgan McIntosh was in Colum- bus, Ohio, readying for the Big Ten tournament; his thoughts, concerns and prayers were directed 2,000 miles away in Santa Ana, Calif. "What the heck am I doing here?" he thought to himself. "This is just wrestling. I should be at home right now." The week of the conference champi- onship, McIntosh's mother, Rebecca, un- derwent what he described as an unex- pected open-heart surgery. Adding to the scare, it wasn't until one day before the tournament when McIntosh learned of the news. To say his mind was elsewhere at Big Tens was an understatement – his mother never le1 his thoughts – but she told him to stay and compete. He knew she would be watching on television at home, so he went out and kept his winning streak alive at St. John Arena, rolling to the 197-pound Big Ten championship, avenging an ear- ly-season loss to Ohio State's Kyle Snyder, 4-1, in the 0nal. A couple days before, he had second thoughts about even wrestling. "That was kind of scary," he said. "It's been in the back of my mind." A1erward, however, he was assured that staying was the best choice. It was his mom's decision any- way. "I have a family here, too," he said a1er beating Snyder. "This team is my second family, and I have an obligation to them. It was hard, but my mom wanted me to wrestle." He was unable to travel home and visit his mom un- til a1er the NCAA tournament in late March, during which McIntosh reported that Rebecca's "recovery has gone well. I think it's been faster than expected. She's doing great. The surgery went well." By the time he next saw her, McIntosh was not only a Big Ten champ, but also a two-time All-American, having 0nished in third place at nationals. McIntosh had hoped to bring a national championship home, too, but in the quar- McIntosh rebounds to take third THIRD WATCH McIntosh has his arm raised after defeating Minnesota's fifth-seeded Schiller for third place. Photo by Mark Selders/ Penn State Athletic Communications S