Wrestler Had To Give Up Rasslin’

Television gave Jason Moaney his first impression of wrestling.

Three-hundred pound, trash-talking men leaping off turnbuckles and ring ropes, elbowing and slamming each other to the canvas.

Moaney didn’t know better when he charged forward and tackled his seventh grade opponent.

“I went out for wrestling when I saw the WWF (World Wrestling Federation),” the 20-year-old Delaware native said.

“I stopped watching that when I got to be a freshman and didn’t get to jump off turnbuckles and bounce off ropes.”

Moaney actually quit his high school wrestling team as a freshman, but returned to win state championships as a junior and senior in 1993 and 1994. A national high school title capped a 102-11 career.

“It’s not your coach that makes you successful, 99 percent is you,” the North Idaho College freshman said. “Because, especially with me, I have a one-track mind. If I don’t want to work hard, I don’t work hard.

“You’ve got to tell yourself you want to be good. You’ve got to tell yourself you want to be the best.”

Academics sent Moaney the junior college route, and the 167-pounder thought he’d found the best National Junior College Athletic Association program at Garden City (Kan.) Community College. But Garden City decided to drop its wrestling program rather than replace coach Mike Leen, who moved on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Garden City officials made that announcement two weeks after the Broncbusters tied Lassen (Calif.) College for the 1995 NJCAA title, which was the school’s third in the past four years.

“The whole group of redshirts (eight) was pretty ticked,” Moaney said. “All of us wanted to stick together, but that was pretty much impossible.”

Moaney and 134-pound freshman Ben Shane, an Iowa native, wound up at NIC after Shane’s father contacted Cardinals coach John Owen.

Now, Moaney takes NIC’s best record, 26-3, into the Region 18 tournament. Shane is 26-7.

“They’ve been real positive punches to our program,” Owen said.

“I don’t think we were liked by everybody,” said Moaney of the initial NIC transfers. “It was more like they don’t like us because we were coming in. At first, it would be expected to have a little tension. Now, this is like our team.”

Moaney and Shane quickly noticed there was a distinct difference between the NIC and Garden City practices.

“We’ve got a pretty tough room,” Moaney said. “We had a lot more talent (at Garden City), but I think the guys are willing to work harder here.”

Moaney had never seen so many coach’s memos, nor had he developed single-leg takedown technique until Owen came along. Instead, Moaney relied on the same high-crotch and double-leg moves that carried him through high school.

Tilting opponents for near-fall points via superior upper body strength makes Moaney an explosive and exciting wrestler to watch.

“When I was skinny, even when I didn’t have any muscles my freshman year, I was still stronger,” Moaney said of high school. “Into my sophomore year, I started to learn how to use my strength. Strength is a big key. You’ve got to have a burst to change gears.”

There are times, however, when that backfires.

“Strength oftentimes gets him in trouble, when he turns into his opponents and gets away, but gives up back points,” Owen explained. “Against good kids, you can’t do that.”

But Moaney is learning and improving.

“With every good coach, they add on to the sculpture,” Moaney said. “They put little things in your head that make you work harder.” , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: NJCAA REGION 18 WRESTLING TOURNAMENT When: Friday. First-round matches 9 a.m. (PST), semifinals 11:30, championships 6:30. Where: Ricks College, Rexburg, ID. At stake: Top three per weight qualify for the NJCAA National Tournament in Bismarck, N.D., on Feb. 23-24. Defending team champion: North Idaho College, 17 of past 18 years. Team contenders: NIC, Ricks, Colorado Northwestern. NIC facts: The Cardinals return no regional placers and only one starter, Bob Presta at 142, from last year. NIC lineup: 118-Dan Vega (25-10), freshman, Tucson, AZ; 126-Jessie Schaeffer (22-11), fr., Columbia Falls, Mont.; 134-Ben Shane (26-7), fr., Iowa City, Iowa; 142-Bob Presta (17-8), sophomore, Missoula; 150-Josh Morton (26-7), fr., Spokane (Mead); 158-Mark Janke (22-4), soph., Moses Lake, Wash.; 167-Jason Moaney (26-3), fr., Dover, Del.; 177-Josh Clausen (20-12), fr., Applevalley, Minn.; 190-Orlando Jordan (25-10), soph., Richmond, Va.; Heavyweight-Aaron McArthur (15-16), fr., Polson, Mont. Coach’s comment: “There’s kind of a bonding thing; these kids like each other,” NIC’s John Owen said. “Everything is clicking for us real well. We came back from Christmas and struggled early, but we’ve learned some lessons and made some adjustments. We’re on a roll right now.”