NCAA wrestling championships: Vito Arujau of Cornell wins second straight 133-pound title

Vito Arujau didn’t know if his body was going to allow his collegiate wrestling career to end at the national championships. As of two weeks ago, the Cornell senior was uncertain whether he’d feel healthy enough to compete on the biggest amateur stage in the sport. But once he felt strong enough to push his body through the pain, Arujau was determined to defend his title.

More than 20 minutes after first stepping on the mat, Arujau exited as a back-to-back national champion Saturday evening. Arujau, who is from Syosset, defeated Daton Fix (Oklahoma State), 5-3, to win his second straight 133-pound title at the 94th NCAA Division I wrestling championships at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

Although Arujau said after the match that he doesn’t feel like “true Vito,” he did what he has done throughout his life: win a wrestling championship.

“I’m not sure I’m necessarily 100%, but I showed up and I put my everything on that mat and I’m happy to walk away a two-time national champion,” he said.

Arujau, the No. 6 seed, had a 21-minute match against the top-seeded Fix (21-1) that included multiple blood stoppages and coaches’ challenges slowing down the pace, something Arujau said doesn’t favor his style.

Arujau rallied from a 2-0 deficit entering the third period and tied the score at 2 after an escape and Fix being called for stalling. A split-second after the stalling, Arujau was awarded a three-point takedown, but the call was overturned after a challenge. Less than 10 seconds after the match resumed, Arujau scored another three-point takedown to take a 5-2 lead.

“I find holes, I create motion, action, and I win those positions,” Arujau said. “And that’s something that I think I do a very, very good job of. I think it’s led me to the success I’ve had in every aspect of this sport.”

Arujau was one of two Long Island wrestlers to reach the finals. No. 2 seed Jacori Teemer, who is from Long Beach and competes for Arizona State, lost to top-seeded Levi Haines (Penn State), 5-0, in the 157-pound final. Haines improved to 26-0.

Teemer (28-4) and Arujau (20-2) became the sixth pair of Long Island wrestlers to advance to the NCAA Division I finals in the same season. They were the first since Dean Morrison (West Virginia, Copiague) and Kerry McCoy (Penn State, Longwood) in 1994, which was the only year two Long Island wrestlers won a national title in the same season.

Teemer, a two-time All-American and five-time New York state champion, missed last year’s tournament because of a torn pectoral muscle.

Arujau, a four-time All-American, defeated Ryan Crookham (Lehigh) in a 13-3 major decision in the semifinals on Friday. Arujau lost to Crookham twice during the regular season.

“He’s on another level,” said Mike Murtha, his high school wrestling coach at Syosset. “He always turns it up when it counts. His whole life, in those big matches, that’s always when he wrestles the best, and that’s proven in him.”

Arujau, who won four high school state championships, won the world freestyle championships last summer.

“Even when he was younger, he was very focused,” Murtha said. “He avoided a lot of the distractions that a young teenager would have and he’s always had the mindset of focusing on the step in front of him.

“His goals were always to get to the top of the podium. But it was to take it one step at a time and one match at a time, and that’s where I think he’s very special because of all the success he had. He’s a very humble kid.”

Many members of the Long Island wrestling community traveled to Kansas City to support the two local wrestlers, including Long Beach varsity wrestling coach Ray Adams.

“This tournament is one of the toughest tournaments to navigate,” Adams said. “Every guy is legit, so you can’t have any slip-ups. You have to be on your game every single match because if not, you’ll go down.”

Arujau and Teemer both ended their college careers going as far as they could in their final season.

“I’m super-excited for Jacori as well,” Arujau said. “Super- cool to see VHW, that’s the club that my dad runs. It’s where I learned how to wrestle. It’s where Jacori learned how to wrestle. It’s cool to see we’ve continued to hone our crafts even after moving away to college and taking on a new family of sorts. Just to know we both have similar roots and similar starts, to see that we’ve both come a long ways is really heartwarming for me.”

With Andy Slawson