Former Seckman Wrestler Succeeding at Missouri Valley

(IMPERIAL) 2016 Seckman graduate and wrestler Zachary Durbin recently completed his junior year at Missouri Valley where he participated in the NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championship for the 3rd time in his college career.

Durbin says that wrestling in the NAIA Championships is quite surreal.

 
At Seckman, Durbin wrestled in the 120 and 126-pound weight divisions, reaching state in his sophomore and senior years. He talks about going from high school wrestling to college wrestling, referring to his Missouri Valley coach, Coach Mike Machholz, and his Seckman coach, Coach Ryan Moyer.

 
In this last NAIA Championship tournament in Iowa, Durbin wrestled in the 133-pound weight division. He defeated Isaiah Lysius of Briar Cliff University in a 16-10 tiebreaker decision in the first round, but then fell to a kid from Concordia-Nebraska University in the 2nd round by major decision. Having to go through the Consolation Bracket, Durbin was able to reach the 4th round and get within one win of All-American status but wound up losing to a different wrestler from Briar Cliff.

Despite the heartbreaking loss, Durbin’s spirit remains unbroken and he’s already back to work and trying to get better.

 
Durbin will look to qualify again for the NAIA Wrestling Championships in his senior year and even take it one step further by becoming an All-American. As for the kids back home in Jefferson County who are interested in wrestling in college, Durbin has reasons why you should look into Missouri Valley.

 
Zachary Durbin finished with a season record of 7-5. The Missouri Valley wrestling team finished the 2018-19 season ranked 13th in the nation in the NAIA.

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