Sports
Walters Finishes Seventh at Nationals
By: Abbey Carnivale
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After losing to Penn’s Casey Kent, senior bobcat Cody Walters returned to The Garden for his final match, which came against Alex Meyer from Iowa.
Walters bounced up and down on the mat, fixed the straps of his singlet, and looked over his right shoulder, up to the second level, to find his parents. He knew this would be the last time the parents will watch him wrestle.
Both competitors tried to get things going several times in first and second period, but several scrambles almost a near fall for Meyer. Going into the third, Walters started with a takedown and Meyer answered with one of his own. The two wrestled it out to the end, finishing 4-3 when Walters got a last second takedown. Meyer earned one final point with riding time, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Bobcat.
Walters’ seventh place finish outdoes his previous All-American season when he earned eighth back in 2013. The wrestler described it as a “relief” to know his freshman season wasn’t just a fluke.
Walters earned seventh place in Saturday’s fifth session.
“I had a flash of my life, all the good times wrestling, all the bad, everything I overcame, the commitment by my loved ones,” said Walters. “I wasn’t going to lose to Hawkeye in my last college match.”
“[I’m] glad I proved to myself that I’m one of the best in the country,” said Walters.
The bobcat will graduate in at the end of April with a physical education degree.