It’s known notoriously as “The Blood Round,” the final line of demarcation at the NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Championships.
Four matches. Eight wrestlers.
Win … and you carve out a spot on the podium, forever to own the title, “All-American.”
Lose … and your cart remains empty. It’s either “wait till next year,” or in Connor McGonagle’s case, be shackled with the torturous question of, “What if?” for the rest of your life.
The shredded 24-year-old from Danville – a Timberlane Regional wrestling legend – stood knee-deep in the predicament on the night of March 21.
“This tournament is an unforgiving place, and it was my last chance. I just told myself, no matter what I was never going to give up … never, ever going to quit,” said McGonagle.
“Going from getting pinned (earlier in the day in the quarterfinals) to facing someone that had just won three straight matches just to get there, it was a huge moment.
“To me, the match is all about toughness. Specifically in ‘The Blood Round,’ it’s such a dark place. It’s all about who is going to make the other guy give up first, 100 percent a battle of wills.”
McGonagle, the Virginia Tech grad student, scored the first takedown and did just what he had hoped, breaking the will of his opponent and seizing his permanent title, All-American, with a 5-1 win.
“It was amazing,” said McGonagle, who went on to win one more match in the placing rounds, closing out his mat career with sixth-place in the 133-pound weight class.
“I came to this school for one reason, a national title. Losing in the quarterfinals, I was very broken for a little bit, but after the tournament is over and you’re an All-American, it’s pretty hard to be disappointed.”
How he got here
After one of the greatest high school careers in our region’s history, McGonagle, a 2019 Timberlane grad, was the rarest of rare three-time Dimmy Gavriel Award winner as The Eagle-Tribune’s Wrestler of the Year.
After achieving nothing but success in high school – going 197-6 with only one loss in New England (his freshman year) – he earned automatic induction into the New England Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Life at the next level, competing at Lehigh University, was not so peachy.
In fact, for McGonagle on the mat, at times it was pure hell.
“Things that had happened there last year and and in others were heartbreaking,” he said. “I was top five in the country (in 2023) then tore up my knee in the conference tournament. That’s not very fun. It took my dream away.”
A year later, he lost his spot in the Lehigh lineup in an early wrestle-off, never getting the opportunity to win it back.
For a person whose life revolved around wrestling since his childhood, it tore McGonagle up.
“For three months at Lehigh last spring, I thought I was done forever,” he said. “I did some soul-searching after that, and found out who I was.”
With the backing of his Timberlane high school sweetheart and current girlfriend, Haley Bredbenner, McGonagle was granted one more year by the NCAA rules due to COVID-19 and chose to enter the transfer portal, hoping to keep that childhood dream alive.
Virginia Tech answers
The Hokie wrestling program made contact with McGonagle through the transfer portal.
Associate Head Coach Jared Frayer, a former U.S. Olympian, put together a grad school scholarship and NIL offer.
“I took the visit and never looked back. It’s amazing here,” said McGonagle, a Lehigh grad with a bachelor’s in economics. “Aside from athletics, the coaches and facilities, I mean this area is like my home now. It’s been my home this entire year.”
The tough luck followed him from Pennsylvania to Virginia, though.
“I had been locked-in since I got here, the most dedicated I’ve ever been. I wanted to make it ...
