HERSHEY - Dallas junior Ryan Monk is a perfectionist. The 285-pound wrestler had just advanced to the semifinals of the PIAA Class AAA Wrestling Championships, and all he could discuss were his flaws.
The pressure got to him, he said. His conditioning was subpar, he lamented.
It's safe to say that the kid was being a bit too hard on himself.
Monk defeated Mt. Lebanon's Zeynul Zaynullayev, 5-4, in the quarterfinals Friday at the Giant Center. He advanced to this morning's championship semifinal round. where he'll face Pottsgrove's Pat Finn.
Monk is the only District 2 Class AAA competitor alive in the championship bracket, but Dallas senior Connor Martinez (170) and Valley West senior Nathan Cheek (145) also clinched medals with victories in the second round of consolations.
"I didn't wrestle very well. He was a tough opponent, a very good opponent," Monk said. "I'm not very happy. I mean, I'm happy I'm placing, but I'm not happy about the win. It is what it is. A win is a win down here."
Monk and Martinez became the fourth and fifth state medalists in program history and the first since Matt Gingo (189, 7th) in 1999.
Monk took down Zaynullayev late in the first period, but a Zaynullayev escape, coupled with the first of two stalling penalties called on Monk, tied the score at 2 in the second.
Monk escaped early in the third to break the tie and then spun Zaynullayev to make it 5-2.
Zaynullayev did not threaten Monk late in the third, even after the second stalling call made it a one-point contest.
Rather than celebrate like he did after Thursday's preliminary-round pin over Harrisburg's Andrew Brown, Monk picked a part his performance.
"I guess it's the competitor in me," Monk said. "It's good that I'm placing and whatnot, but there's always something I can improve. I'm always trying to go for perfection."
Dallas coach Mike Richards had no qualms with how Monk secured the victory.
"Everybody at this level, especially when you get to the quarterfinals, there are no bad wrestlers," he said. "You take your wins any way you can get them. They don't have to be pretty. They just have to be wins."
And now Monk is one win from becoming the first Mountaineer to reach a state final. If he continues to win, nobody will care about how he got it done.
As the stakes rise, so do Monk's expectations.
"I'm happy, but I won't be that happy if I don't make it to the finals," Monk said. "And that's my goal, to get to that final."
Martinez snuck into the state tournament with a third-place finish at last weekend's Northeast Regional tournament. Come Saturday evening, he'll be on the medal stand.
Martinez beat Norristown's Rashon Lusane, 1-0, with the lone point coming on a stalling call. It was the second consecutive one-point win for Martinez after being pinned in Thursday's preliminaries by three-time state champion Chance Marsteller of Kennard-Dale.
"I'm not done yet," Martinez said. "I'm going to keep going for the higher medal."
It appeared as if Cheek's hopes for a state medal were going to fall one win short.
He trailed Belle Vernon Area's Jarod Verkleeren, 4-2, with 10 seconds left in the third period.
A stalling calling sliced Verkleeren's lead in half, and then with the clock nearing 0:00, Cheek hit the odds-defying takedown for the win.
"I wasn't even sure if I won at the end," Cheek said. "He gave me two. I truly believe there's a God out there becauseâ¦ I can't believe I did that. I'm just so happy."
The tears flowed and Cheek wanted nothing more than to celebrate.
"Honestly, I'm not going to feel it until I go sit down with my parents," Cheek said. "Words can't describe this feeling. This is what I trained so hard for, and to get this, I'm beyond happy."
Hazleton Area freshman Jimmy Hoffman (120) lost his second-round consolation bout, 2-1, to Shippensburg's Chandler Olson. Hoffman allowed a reversal late in the third period.