Max Murin had a perfect wrestling season upon entrance into the
last competition before Districts. He was undefeated and was highly
favored to win The Thomas Cheverolet Tournament in Bedford. He was
wrestling in the finals, his final match before his quest to a second District
Championship. Max suffered an unfortunate loss, and found himself in a
very deep hole. His confidence was low and his defined position as a wrestler
was one that he questioned. Max had three weeks time to reconstruct his
personal wrestling philosophy and re-establish himself as a state
contender. The District meet was upon him and he found himself exactly in
the same position he was in three weeks earlier, with the same wrestler who had
given him his first loss of the season. Max conquered this wrestler by a
score of 5-0 to capture his second District Championship. Two weeks later
Max met up again with this same competitor and won by a very convincing score
of 3-0 to step on the top block once again, for his second consecutive Regional
Championship. Max had scared off the ghost of his past and had regained
the confidence needed to successfully accomplish his goal. Max arrived at
Hershey and found that his room number was 115...his weight class. The
first show on the television was "Gladiator". Max is commonly
referred to as "Maximus". The signs were there. Max
pinned in his first match of the weekend with 3 seconds left in the
match. In his second match Max was winning 15-6 before he received a pin
with 1 second left in the match. Max was now in the semi-finals and won
8-1. Max had only the final match to win to become the 2nd wrestler in the
history of Central Cambria Wrestling, to become a State Champion. All the
introductions were given and PIAA plays a video on the big screen which
encompasses the entire tournament. They play music which is powerfully
inspirational in attempts to get the crowd and the wrestlers excited for the
finals. Max doesn't stand and watch the film. He walks over on a
piece of mat and turns away from the screen and continues to warm-up. Max
isn't concerned with anything but keeping warm for the finals. His goal
was to become a State Champion and nothing was going to deter him from
this. Max finally got his opportunity. He is up 2-0 at the end of
the 1st period. His opponent from Lancaster Catholic had beaten Max a
year earlier at the State Tournament by a score of 5-2. Max was down 4-3
at the end of the second period. His dreams were being threatened.
Max never allowed himself to be removed from this match. His drive and
his commitment to completion is not like the normal wrestler. Max wasn't
satisfied with coming this far without capturing a title. The final
buzzer went off and in front of approximately 7,000 wrestling fans, Max had
found himself ahead 7-4. His quest had been completed and Max had become
a PIAA AA STATE CHAMPION. Max is an example of how hard word does pay
off, but more importantly, how losses can be a driving force in successfully
accomplishing goals. His performance was admirable and The Central
Cambria community is extremely proud of him. Congratulations Max!
You are a State Champion now, but you will always be a Champion in the hearts
of Central Cambria.
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