National Wrestling Hall of Fame award winner McConnell overcomes setbacks to win titles
May 3—Teghan McConnell was the undefeated top seed in in his weight class for the state Division I wrestling championships.
And McConnell had a case of the nerves, he said.
Then McConnell won a match. The nervousness was gone.
McConnell, a Bedford High senior and American International College commit, claimed not only the Division I crown but the 157-pound title at the Meet of Champions. Last month, he was named the New Hampshire recipient of the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame, which gives out the award, states that the honor "recognizes and celebrates the nation's most outstanding high school senior male wrestlers for their excellence in wrestling, scholastic achievement, citizenship and community service."
"It's definitely one of the bigger awards that I've won," McConnell said. "I was very excited ... It's definitely not an easy award to win. It takes a lot of work in the classroom and on the mat."
McConnell's season started slowly. He was set back by a hip injury sustained at the Lowell (Mass.) Holiday Tournament in December. He wrestled in Bedford's next dual meet, but spent the rest of the regular season rehabbing.
So the Division I meet marked his first competition in about a month.
In his return, McConnell's nervousness went away in 30 seconds — the length of his quarterfinal win over Nashua South's Diego Dominguez.
After a semifinal pin (3:02) of Timberlane's Cole Abel, McConnell won the title with a 45-second pin of No. 2 seed Evan Landry of Pinkerton Academy.
McConnell, who took the 145-pound D-I crown last year, said he went into the final against Landry — the first ever match between the two — looking for a quick pin.
"I had to take care of my hip," McConnell said. "The quicker the matches were, the less chance I had of reinjuring or injuring it even more."
Just as he did at the Division I meet, McConnell, again the top seed, won the Meet of Champions with three pins.
He advanced past ninth-seeded Sam St. Onge of Exeter in 1:17 and earned a semifinal win over Division III Bow's Josiah Funches, the No. 7 seed, in 5:21.
Funches was the first wrestler to score points on McConnell since Bedford's first tournament of the season.
"He had no chill — always on me," McConnell said of Funches. "It was fun wrestling him. I definitely needed a match like that — a tougher match."
In a rematch of the D-I final, McConnell pinned Landry in 1:09. He received the MOC's outstanding wrestler award.
McConnell set up the pin with a blast-double-leg takedown move, he said. He qualified for the New England Championships for a third straight year.
Earning the Meet of Champions' most outstanding wrestler award, McConnell said, was one of his favorite moments from his final high school campaign.
"That was one of my goals going into the season," he said. "Since junior year, I knew I wanted that .. so that was pretty awesome to win."
