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PA Profile of Tim Darling
By Todd Irwin,
Pennsylvania Wrestling Newsmagazine, December 2006
Nazareth senior Tim Darling is one of the most successful
wrestlers in the history of Pennsylvania wrestling. He's won two PIAA state
titles and finished third as a freshman.
With the talent the way it is in the state, most wrestlers
would kill to have that kind of a high school resume like that. But it's that
third-place medal from his freshman year that had irked him throughout his
career.
"It was kind of the plan to be a four-timer," Darling said.
"I kind of look at it as kind of failing. Even though I came close my freshman
year, I think with a little bit of more work and dedication, I have could have
had that."
A failure? Pressed further on the issue, Darling sort of gave
himself a break.
"I'm proud of my success, and I'm happy with it," he said.
"To call it a failure is kind of pompous, and I'd never trade what I've done for
anything, but I could have done better. I definitely had the ability.
But all of that won't mean squat if I don't win this year."
Before you e-mail Darling the number of a good psychiatrist,
consider that he's not a total crazy-eyed perfectionist bathing in wrestling 24
hours a day, seven days a week.
He likes to have fun. He likes to play football in the
backyard and hang out with his friends. He wrestles during the summer, but he's
not one of those wrestlers who will continue to work out long after practice has
ended.
He has a sense of humor. Call his cell phone and you get his
convincing voicemail message immitating a worker at a Chinese restaurant.
"I'm just a goofball," Darling said. "I try to lighten the
mood as much as I can. My coach thought it was just a nervous reaction my
freshman year, but it's me.
I try to not play too many pranks because it usually comes
back around to you."
"He's very laid-back," Nazareth coach Dave Crowell said.
"He's kind of happy-go-lucky and very gregarious. He's always talking about
something. He's the opposite of quiet and shy. He's very easy to talk to."
When it's time to drill and work out, Darling says he's all
business. It's something he's learned since he began wrestling in kindergarten
in New Jersey. He wasn't an immediate success. In fact he says he was "horrible"
when he started. It wasn't until the fourth grade that he started blossoming as
a wrestler.
"My dad (Bob) had a lot to do with that," Darling said. "He
was my personal coach when I was growing up.
We turned the basement into a wrestling room. I still do most
of the stuff we worked on."
The family moved when he was in sixth grade. When it was time
to pick a District 11 school, his parents bypassed Easton.
"They didn't want it to be that stereotypical transfer,"
Darling said. "I think it was a good move. I really like it here."
The Nazareth fans started liking him his freshman year.
Darling rolled into the 2004 PIAA Championships as a Northeast Regional
112-pound champion holding a 29-5 record. He outscored his first two opponents
by a combined score of 13-0 to reach the semifinals. But he was stopped short of
a trip to the finals by Easton's eventual runner-up Josh Oliver, 3-1. Darling
had beaten Oliver three weeks in a row. Now there's a reason to grind your teeth
in your sleep. Some wrestlers can't mentally bounce back from a semifinals loss,
but won both of his consolation bouts, including one by fall. It was an awesome
springboard to his high school career.
"He made some big strides his freshman year," Crowell said.
"Sometimes you see a kid who's a freshman or a sophomore, and they just make
smaller gains. I never figured he'd be a two-time state champ."
As a sophomore, he started showing a penchant for inventing
moves. Darling developed one called the straight jacket, which he used in the
state 130-pound finals to beat Quakertown's Nate Nauroth, 5-2.
"It's fun to keep it interesting and to make up moves,"
Darling said. "Some of the things actually work."
"He's showing me moves," Crowell said. "He's like a walking
encyclopedia of wrestling."
Last season, his road to the 145-pound finals was a dangerous
one. He beat the eventual fourth-placer, fifth-placer and sixth-placer. Darling
earned his second title with an 8-5 win over Bald Eagle Area's Quentin Wright.
The highlight of his career, however, came earlier in his
junior season when Nazareth won the PIAA Team Duals.
"Finally having that state championship was a super great
feeling," he said. "The goal was to win the team championship. Not everybody can
win an individual state championship, so it was nice to look down the line and
see 14 or 16 guys getting their medals."
To get ready for his senior season, he worked out with Thad
Frick, who finished second at 160 in the 2006 state tournament, and went to
tournaments in Florida and Delaware.
Before this season started, he signed a
letter-of-intent to wrestle at Penn State after considering Lehigh, Minnesota
and Virginia Tech.
"I like Penn State because it's somewhat local," he said.
"Their goals are similar to mine. They want to win national championships. I
really like coach (Troy) Sunderland. All the schools I considered had goals of
winning currently and in the future. It came down to what place I really felt
best at."
Darling, who came into this season with a 123-10 career record, was off to a
slow start in early December by his standards.
"I have a lot of room to improve," he said. "As of right now,
I don't like the way I'm wrestling. I was sick the first few weeks of the
season, and now I'm starting to get the hang of things. It's just coming back to
me. Everybody has room to improve. I have goals. I want to do everything I did
last year, but do it better."
"As far as competing now, I think he has a lot of improvement
ahead of him," Crowell said. "He's not a real fast starter, which is fine with
me. He can wrestle than he is right now."
The above profile was printed in the December 2006 issue of PWN.
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