FEATURE: Wrestling's Barrett, Taylor ready for last dance at NCAA National Championships

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The bright lights. The big stage. The pressure. It can all be overwhelming the first time a student-athlete walks through that tunnel into the arena at the NCAA Division III Wrestling National Championships.

For Averett University wrestling seniors Mason Barrett and Anthony Taylor, the calmness lies in familiarity of the final weekend. Both qualified for consecutive national tournaments — three in a row for Barrett. Both return for one last chance to do something special by finishing on the podium. 

“The first time I was a little caught up in the lights and, ‘Oh, we’re at nationals. It’s a cool place,’” Taylor recalled. “I think now, since I know what to expect, it does calm the nerves a little bit and I feel even more prepared.”

Both Taylor and Barrett have put together memorable final seasons with the Cougars, dominating through the regular season, winning their respective weight classes at the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Championships and finishing as the runner-up in the NCAA Region 4 Championships hosted by Averett two weeks ago. Although each has similar aspirations this weekend at nationals — hosted at the Amica Mutual Pavillion in Providence, Rhode Island — comparing the journeys of Barrett and Taylor is like comparing apples to oranges. 

A native of Bealeton, Virginia, Barrett is a two-time All-American having finished sixth nationally as a sophomore and fifth last season as a junior. As one of only three wrestlers in program history with more than 100 wins, Barrett hopes to once again improve on his placement at nationals. Ranked nationally by multiple organizations, Barrett enters Friday with a 26-4 record this season and is the No. 4 seed at 125 pounds.

“This one is a little bit different because it’s my last time being able to compete,” Barrett said. “I’m probably looking at it a little different and I just want to leave everything out on the mat — knowing that I’m probably not going to get this opportunity again to wrestle and there’s not a ‘next year.’”

A native of Richmond Hill, Georgia, Taylor makes his second national tournament appearance on Friday after going 21-7 so far this season at 157 pounds. He got his first taste in last year’s tournament held in La Crosse, Wisconsin, but didn’t place. His mission is to, at worst, finish top eight to earn All-America honors.

“I’m going in there to win it or at least make the finals,” Taylor said. “I want to walk away by being on that podium somewhere. I could be eighth and I would still be happy to be an All-American. That’s the one thing missing. I’ve been a national qualifier, a conference champion and a region finalist, but I haven’t been an All-American. I never was an All-American in high school either, so this is my chance.”

Few have the motor that Taylor possesses when he’s on the mat. That’s never been an issue.

“We already know I have a gas tank and I can outpace a lot of people in the country, but now it’s about being able to outpace and have perfect technique,” Taylor said as he prepped for nationals last week.

Wrestling at 165 pounds during his first three seasons, Taylor journey at Averett as a backup during his freshman season, but the progression revved up during his sophomore season when he won the ODAC championship. Last year he took a big step by battling back to get third at regionals and earn his first trip to the national championships last season. After losing in his preliminary match by technical fall, Taylor looked like he was going to go 0-2 at nationals. He trailed Coast Guard Academy’s Steven Rochard 14-0 after the first period, putting Rochard one point away from a win by tech fall. Rochard chose bottom to start the second period, meaning an escape was all he needed to beat Taylor.

That’s when the switch flipped and Taylor engineered one of the most unlikely comebacks, pinning Rochard in the third period to stay alive and earning a win at nationals. Although he lost in his next bout, that comeback moment against Rochard is something Taylor can mentally use to his advantage in this year’s tournament.

“Taylor had to make a decision to either let this guy up and turn him and figure out a way to win,” Averett assistant coach Sam Braswell said. “And last year, Taylor was just not good on top. But he found a way to turn the kid and pin the kid. That’s a testament to who he is. That’s one of the things we tried to teach him. Whatever you put your mind to, you can really do it. I think gives him confidence going into the national tournament, and he can figure it out and get his hand raised.”

Following the 2024 NCAA National Championships, Taylor approached the coaching staff with the idea about dropping down a weight class to 157 pounds. Taylor showed to Averett head coach Blake Roulo that he was serious about the change, so Taylor made the move down a weight class. It didn’t come with immediate success. This season started out with some adversity for Taylor. He lost a few matches early. 

“I usually feel like I start off pretty slow and get a couple of losses,” Taylor acknowledged. 

However, his coaches felt like there was more to it.

“He had a lot of excuses for himself early in the year,” Roulo said. “He would get off the mat after a loss or even after wins and he’d complain that he was cutting too much weight. Well if you have the energy to complain, you’re not using enough energy on the mat. Basically between Coach Braswell and myself, we told him he had to ‘embrace the suck.’ We didn’t tell him to go down a weight class. He made that decision. Once he made that flip — it was Day 2 of the Virginia Duals — he was 10 times better. His approach was better. He embraced ‘the suck’ because in the end, he was doing this for a reason — to get on the podium. It was just a mindset flip.”

It worked. Taylor’s last regular season loss came on Jan. 10 at the Virginia Duals. He then rattled off 11 consecutive wins, earning the ODAC title at 157 in the process before taking that momentum into the Region 4 Championships. Taylor advanced to the region final, where he ran into two-time defending national champion Michael Petrella of Baldwin Wallace University, who beat Taylor 19-1 for his mind-boggling 112th win in a row.

“It really showed me the level I need to get to in order to be at the top,” Taylor said. “It was a wake-up call.”

Although the loss was tough, Taylor and his coaches believe he will benefit from it at nationals. The tape told the story.

“In that regional final, me and Ant went over the film and we were talking about the technicalities,” Braswell said. “I told him that this was one of the kids you can’t bully. I told him he’s got to get technical and understand most of the matches he loses are because of technique and little things that he is doing wrong. With this high-level wrestler, he gets in on your leg and scores the first time, but every other time that he would score, it was because he was able to make that in-match adjustment. I think him grabbing and feeling what the best guy in the nation feels like and looks like definitely is going to help propel him because now is even more prepared compared to if we would have wrestled anyone else ranked top 10 in the nation with a totally different feel. So I think he knows what to expect doing into this tournament after wrestling the best guy in the bracket technically. It’s only elevated him because you can see him in practice sharpening up his techniques.”

Roulo believes there’s an argument to be made that Taylor has had the toughest region opponent in the country across all weight classes the past three seasons. While wrestling at 165, Taylor ran into Alvernia University’s Matt Lackman twice in. Lackman was national runner-up in 2023 and third in 2024. Then he drew Petrella in the finals this year.

“Those guys have been ranked No. 1 in the country for multiple years,” Roulo said. “I think the difference this year compared to facing Lackman is that he felt competitive at times in this match.”

If Taylor is the high-energy guy, Barrett is the complete opposite with his nonchalant demeanor.

“He’s a little laissez faire and laid back, but I’ve learned to love that about him,” Braswell said. “I don’t have to put a lot of attention or pressure on Mason because when the lights come on, that’s when he’s going to shine.”

Braswell, during his days on the mat with the Cougars, was the program’s first star at 125 pounds. He won a pair of region titles and was a three-time national qualifier and three-time All-American during his five seasons before becoming an assistant coach the last three seasons. He passed the torch to Barrett, who followed in Braswell’s footsteps as a two-time region champ and now three-time national qualifier. Barrett hopes to also add a third consecutive All-America honor this weekend at nationals.

Barrett said the big stage doesn’t bother him.

“I feel like there is a lot of pressure, but I haven’t been worrying about it,” Barrett said. “I feel like I’m still just wrestling. It’s the same with high school. I won states three times in high school but it was always just the same. Just wrestling.”

This time around, the only difference is that Barrett didn’t win the region title. He fell short in the finals, finishing as the runner-up to Ferrum College’s Zach Beckner, the 2017 national runner-up. Even with that loss, Roulo doesn’t feel like there’s a lot Barrett needs to adjust.

“I do feel like even on his worst day, he could finish eighth when you’ve done as much work as he’s done, especially with Coach Braswell, who was a three-time All-American in his own right,” Roulo said. “With Mason, it’s just about having him feel good. Nothing really needs to change for him. He’s been twice, he’s been an All-American twice. At the end of the day, we were two points away from making the national finals one year. I think the thing is that he’s gotten a lot better. I think with Barrett, it’s all about being himself and taking it day by day — not taking it too seriously.”

That notion certainly fits Barrett’s personality. However, the easy-going nature of Barrett shouldn’t be mistaken for a lack of fierceness on the mat.

“Mason’s just a dog,” Braswell said. “You got to keep him on the leash sometimes and sometimes you’ve got to let him loose. I think at the national tournament, you let that dog loose.”

Barrett’s technical abilities and his experience of having success at the national stage leads his coaches to believe he can once again improve his placement at nationals this year.

“We expect him to do better than he even did the past two years just because of those factors alone,” Braswell said. “And it’s his last ride, so give it all you got. I think Mason is in a great position because of his experience and because of his technical abilities. Mason’s floor sixth place. That’s not even what he could get. It really depends on which Mason shows up that day. If it’s the Mason that has shown up at the national tournament the last two years, he’s going to do fairly well.”

Braswell said Barrett has traditionally responded well following a loss, so falling to Beckner in the region final has certainly added motivation in practice the past two weeks.

“I think Mason losing to Beckner in the region finals when he wanted to get that so badly to become the first three-time region champ at Averett, that definitely lit a fire under him and you can see that in practice,” Braswell said.

Regardless of what happens this weekend at the NCAA National Championships, Barrett and Taylor etched their name in the Averett record books with their accolades and successes. Roulo would love to see them go out with a podium finish in their last dance.

“I think when both of those guys are officially done with their careers, I think the thing that will be most precious to me is thanking them for their service and everything they’ve done for our program,” Roulo said. “Both of them are two completely different journeys and both of them have made Averett wrestling better. They’ve pushed me and made me better as a coach. … I think the easy answer would be for them to be All-Americans, but they are already All-Americans in my eyes.”