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PA Profile of
Mark McKnight
By Todd Irwin,
Pennsylvania Wrestling Newsmagazine, December 2007
A year removed from
redshirting at Penn State following a two-year stint at the University of
Buffalo in which he qualified for the NCAA Championships both years, Mark
McKnight was expected to do a lot as a junior last season. The way he started
the season out, it appeared those expectations would be realized for the 2003
Class AAA state champion from Chartiers Valley.
McKnight opened with three wins at the Pennsylvania
Duals, notching a pin and two majors at 125 pounds and won the Nittany Lion Open
by beating Michigan State's fifth-ranked Franklin Gomez. He went on to beat
Hofstra's eighth-ranked David Tomasette, 5-2, and Cornell's second-ranked Troy
Nickerson, 5-2, on Jan. 7. McKnight, ranked as high as second at one point,
knocked off two more wrestlers ranked in the top 20 in January and was 16-1
going into his Jan. 21 bout against Minnesota's fifth-ranked Jayson Ness. Ness
pinned McKnight, which might have been the point where he started going
downhill.
He went 7-10 in last 17 bouts to finish 23-11. Talk of a national title had
faded before the Big Ten Championships, where he placed sixth. McKnight went 2-2
in the NCAA Championships, falling short of becoming an All-American. What
happened between the first and second half of the season?
"I still don't know that we know," PSU coach Troy Sunderland said, "other
than it was just a long time to maintain that intensity. Maybe it's kind of a
personality trait with Mark.
"He has that ability to wrestle at a high level, but in the Big Ten, to be
in it all season long, you have to keep that intensity level high, or the kid
that you never heard of can beat you. That's kind of what happened."
Sunderland said he and his coaching staff changed McKnight's training
approach coming into the 2007-2008 season. "After last year, when things kind
of hit the fan in terms of going to a high level, getting ranked as high as
second in the country and then hitting the wall, we really changed the routine
and let him [do] specific sequences or specific workouts for him that we kind of
really designed last year," Sunderland said.
"We really have tried to avoid that pressure. We talked in January about
how uch we wanted to wrestle this fall, so that getting into Big Ten time frame,
he's fresh and ready to go to get ready for the one or two-month final run."
Some fans and media wondered this year if his problems on the mat filtered
into his personal life. McKnight headed into the season facing assault,
harassment and disorderly conduct charges for punching a man at a May 5 party at
Penn State.
"I'm not going to say too much about the actual affair," he said. "I just
try to leave that at the door when I step in this wrestling room and just try to
focus on my goals for wrestling. I'll take care of those problems outside the
wrestling room one-by-one and try to chop them down as much as we can."
"It's disappointing that altercations like that happen," Sunderland said.
"We talk about we're kind of held to a higher standard, and I try to hold my
guys to a higher standard. They know it's not going to be looked very happily
upon them whenever something like this happens."
McKnight says he's learned a valuable lesson. "You've got to realize you
have a responsibility, and it's times two when you're on a wrestling team or any
sports team,"McKnight said. "You've got to realize you're at fault whether you
did something, whether you didn't do something or anything like that."
McKnight drew the attention of college coaches early on in his high school
career, finishing second at 103 in Hershey as a sophomore and third the next
year at 103. The next year, he went 38-1 and won the 119-pound title with a 6-4
overtime win over Shikellamy's Mike Sees.
"With high school wrestling, someone with a lot of talent such as myself
can get away with a lot of things," McKnight said. "When you come into the
college world, it just doesn't work like that. Guys are bigger. Guys are
stronger. Guys are just as talented. You've got to realize that, go back, fix
the things that don't work and work on the things that don't work."
McKnight got bigger and stronger in the offseason, hitting the weight room
pretty hard. Through his first two dual meets, his work seems to be paying off.
After opening with an 8-7 win over Maryland's Brendan Byrne, McKnight, ranked
10th, beat the seventh-ranked Tomasette, 3-2.
"It was long overdue," McKnight said of the win. "I felt great. I had a
little gameplan going in there, and I just executed it."
"I don't think he's there yet," Sunderland said, "but it's a step in the
right direction."
McKnight still has those high expectations that surrounded him when he went
on a run last year. He's hoping that run continues throughout the season.
"I know I haven't had a chance to stand on that podium yet, and a few times
I've knocked on that door," he said. "That's not a big deal considering I still
have one more chance left.
"I can worry about that after the season if I don't make it there, but
that's not really an option. I have to make sure I put it all together this year
inside this wrestling room to get me where I want to be, and that's being a
national champion. Not just for myself, but for these guys." |
