Fresno State Athletics
Going for the Gold
1/27/2000 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Jan. 27, 2000
FRESNO, Calif. - Winning a national title is the dream of every Division I athlete. It is the pot-of-gold that only one team, one individual, will reach at the end of the season. It is the ultimate verification that one has made it to the top.
Stephen Abas, in only two years of wrestling at Fresno State, has brought home the pot-of-gold. Abas captured the 1998-1999 125-pound weight class NCAA Division I national title.
The second wrestler in Fresno State history to earn such honors, Abas is now faced with the challenge of looking for a new dream. An aspiration containing tougher obstacles and steeper competition. A second pot-of-gold, or for Abas, a gold medal, to work toward.
"I've done a lot and accomplished a lot of my goals in the past few years, particularly winning the NCAA's last year," Abas said. "Ever since I started doing well in wrestling I've had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to make the Olympic team. It's the highest you can go."
Having found his spot on the top of the Fresno State all-time records with the second highest single-season winning percentage (.974) and being voted Fresno State's Male Athlete of the Year in 1998-1999, Abas has decided to take this year off from school, redshirt his season and devote his time and energy to train for the 2000 Olympics in Australia.
"I wanted to do good in wrestling last year so that I could go out on top," Abas said. "It's just great timing that I won the NCAA's and the Olympic tryouts are rolling around this year." Although Abas considers himself a young competitor trying for the Olympic team he believes his experience at Fresno State and his accomplishments on the mat have prepared him for the next step.
"Usually the guys on the Olympic team are older, around 27 or 28 years old, so I'm still young," Abas said. "But I've learned a lot, I've matured a lot and I think that I can make the team. I might as well give it a shot."
Training along side Fresno State assistant coach and Olympic hopeful Yero Washington, a former Fresno State WAC Champion at 134 pounds and two-time All-American, Abas said the road to Australia is not an easy one.
"First you have to win at the U.S. Open in April," Abas said. "The top six qualify for the Olympic trials in June."
The winner there, Abas explained, goes for the gold with "U.S.A." embroidered on their singlet. "It's not like other sports where athletes get voted to the Olympic team. In wresting you have to be the best," Abas said.
And being the best is something Abas has proved he is good at.
"Washington and I have competed in three tournaments in the past few weeks for training and I've won them all," Abas said.
With all his focus and energy funneled toward making the U.S.Olympic team, Abas has little time to consider what his life after Australia will hold, but his optimism for the future ensures more success.
"There's no where to go from here but up," Abas said. "I plan on returning to Fresno State to finish college and use up my last two years of wrestling eligibility. My coach, Dennis DeLiddo, wouldn't have it any other way. I'm still young so I can keep training for the Olympics too." With so many uncertainties lingering in the coming months of Abas' wrestling career, one thing remains clear. Wresting will be a central part of Abas' life- Olympics or not.
"Wresting is just one of those sports that once you get serious about it, it sticks with you," Abas said. "It's hard to get rid of, it stays in you. You just fall in love with it."
The Abas File1998-99 NCAA Division I National Title (125-pound weight class) All-American WAC Champion Fresno State Male Athlete of the Year WAC Outstanding Wrestler Second in Bulldog history with a .974 winning percentage
1997-98 Took Fourth at NCAA Championships All-American WAC Champion (118-pound weight class) WAC Wrestler of the Year Freshman of the Year Four time WAC Wrestler of the Week Bulldogs' Most Outstanding Wrestler
