Belle Vernon's Zach Hartman, Kiski Area's Darren Miller represent Bucknell well at NCAA Tournament

Belle Vernon’s Zach Hartman and Kiski Area’s Darren Miller put together special high school careers during their time in the WPIAL, but this past weekend, the pair represented Bucknell at the NCAA Division I wrestling championships.

Hartman (13-3), who was making his third NCAA appearance after last year’s tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, earned the No. 5 seed in the 165-pound bracket after winning the EIWA championship for the first time.

It was the second-highest seed a Bucknell wrestler ever received, and Hartman showed why. He won his first two matches with decisions over Rodrick Mosley of Gardner-Webb and West Virginia’s Peyton Hall. He then became just the second Bucknell wrestler to earn a spot in the NCAA semifinals when Virginia Tech’s Mekhi Lewis medically forfeited their quarterfinal matchup.

Hartman lost his final three matches, including a 7-5 setback to Latrobe grad Ethan Smith (Ohio State) in the fifth-place match, but Hartman is tied for the third-highest finish ever for a Bucknell wrestler. He also became the program’s sixth All-American.

Although he had a solid tournament, Hartman isn’t satisfied.

“It definitely feels good to accomplish that don’t get me wrong, but I also feel like I have a lot of work to do,” Hartman said. “At the end of the day, once you stop realizing that you can improve then you start going downhill at that point. So, I’m still going to be champing at the bit, and I’m still trying to improve every day.”

After going 19-15 last season as a freshman, Miller (9-3) came into this season ready to go. He put together a solid sophomore season and qualified for his first NCAA tournament at 133 pounds after placing third at the EIWA championships.

Miller received the No. 26 seed and lostan 8-3 decision in his first-round match to the No. 7 seed Lucas Byrd of Illinois. Byrd went on to place fifth.

In the consolation bracket, Miller was pinned by Minnesota’s Boo Dryden. Miller was glad to be there, but he’s already looking to next season.

“It was definitely satisfying getting here, but I’m definitely not happy with the results,” Miller said. “It was a good experience, but I definitely need to work and grow and it’s showed me how I need to work and grow, and I just need to keep grinding.”

Since joining the Bison, Hartman has been working toward a performance like he had during the weekend. He finished as an EIWA runner-up as a freshman and sophomore and had last year’s tournament taken away from him because of the coronavirus pandemic. As a freshman, he earned the No. 14 seed at the NCAAs at 157 pounds and earned a record of 2-2.

Hartman said being able to wrestle at that level as a freshman gave him an idea of what he was getting into this past weekend.

“I definitely got my feet wet with that tournament, and I’m glad I got to because it kind of showed me what type of beast I was up against coming into the following NCAA tournaments,” Hartman said. “So I knew what to expect, and I knew what to train for.”

After a solid freshman season, Miller said he took big jumps going into his sophomore season. But now, after a run to the NCAA Tournament, Miller said he has a better idea of what he needs to work on heading into his junior season.

“It has definitely shown me that I need to improve my positioning, my hand fighting and just wrestling through positions,” Miller said. “I feel like I’ve definitely grown a lot, but I feel like I can grow even more. This is definitely not the cap for me.”

To get to this point, Hartman and Miller, just like every other competitor throughout the country, put in a ton of work while dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and still put their all into the product they put onto the mat.

Bucknell wrestling coach Dan Wirnsberger said being able to get to the tournament was just a result of the work they put in all year long.

“Both Darren and Zach had a really good body of work all year, all season long, and it was just a matter of it all coming together at the right time of the year,” Wirnsberger said. “That’s what we try to emphasize as a coaching staff and a program is you want your best results there in that first week in March at the qualifier and that third week in March at the NCAA Tournament.”