Zach Horan builds on strong freshman year


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Morgan Taylor | Staff Photographer Sophomore Zach Horan wrestles his Stanford opponent, Peter Russo, in their match on Monday, November 25 in McGuirck Arena.

Redshirting last season was tough for sophomore Zach Horan.

Coming out of high school, Horan was the No. 17 recruit in the nation and the No. 2 ranked 130-pound recruit coming out of Nazareth High School in Pennsylvania. He was a Class AAA State Champion as a senior and three-time state runner-up, winning 169 of his 181 matches.

This success continued into his freshman season at CMU where he finished as the MAC Champion at 133 pounds, including three straight wins as an unseeded wrestler. He also finished one win shy of All-American honors at the NCAA Championships.

Horan would redshirt the following year, finishing 22-5 in open tournaments. He said it was tough because of how well he had ended his freshman season.

“It’s great to be back,” Horan said. "Redshirting last year was tough. I felt like I was really starting to pick it up at the end of my freshman year and knowing how to win college matches.”

Horan said watching his teammates last season from the sidelines was only giving him extra motivation to come back even stronger this season.

“I had to spend the whole year watching,” Horan said. “Last year kind of helped me to get motivated and helped me to push myself and get out there and perform to win matches.”

Back in action this season, Horan said he wrestled well in his dual meet match against Stanford, but is never satisfied with just good enough.

“I wrestled pretty well,” Horan said. “Coach has been really pushing me to keep scoring points. I’ve made the mistake many times in matches where I just go out and score quick and sit on my lead. It doesn’t look as good and you don’t feel as good after the match.”

This season, Horan has gotten off to a 11-2 start, 6-2 in duals, the most overall wins on the team. Horan said his goal at the end of the season is to be on the podium at the conclusion of the season continuing to win.

“My goal is to be high on the podium at the end of the year,” said Horan. “We do that by working hard and keep winning matches during the season.”

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