For the first time in his wrestling career, Mike Kraft heard the crowd.

Kraft, a true freshman who brought a 9-19-1 record into the Eastern Wrestling League Tournament, was tied with Clarion 190-pounder Joe Rozanc, a two-time NCAA qualifer and the second seed, at the end of regulation in a first-round match.

At 1:45 into the sudden victory overtime period, Kraft scored a takedown to defeat Rozanc, 2-2, 2-0 (OT). He raised his clenched fist into the air and waved to the crowd, which was on its feet.

"I heard the crowd and they helped me; however, I think my opponent also heard them and it hurt him," Kraft said. "I just wanted to say 'Thank you' to everybody for helping me."

Kraft also upset the tournament's third seed, Edinboro's Jason Loukides, to reach the finals. But in the finals, he was pinned by West Virginia's Dominic Black, ranked third in the country.

Kraft's second-place finish qualified him for the NCAA Tournament.

"You just can't give Mike enough credit," Coach Rich Lorenzo said. "A lot of people didn't give him a snowball's chance but he just didn't want to stay home."

During high school, Kraft won the state tournament as a junior and made it to the semifinals as a senior, but was disqualified for using an illegal slam. He was used to winning.

After he came to Penn State, Kraft struggled. He had to learn to forget about his win-loss record, which isn't easy when the losses keep piling up.

"My dad told me once I must have thought I was playing golf and the low score won," Kraft said.

Kraft started wrestling better about halfway through the season, when he realized that physical ability alone wasn't going to make him a winner in college.

"Like I keep telling everyone, it's more of a mental game in college than it was in high school," he said. "I had to stop holding back, and that just doesn't happen overnight."

Rozanc defeated Kraft in a dual meet the week before EWLs, 6-1, and Kraft said he learned from the defeat.

"I wasn't following through on my shots," Kraft said. "I didn't just blow right through them. This time, I was more focused."

After a scoreless first period, Rozanc reversed Kraft to start the second. Kraft escaped two times, once in the second period and once in the third, to tie the match.

Against Loukides, Kraft was the aggressor, earning a 12-5 decision and keeping his intensity through the entire match. He scored takedowns with 24 seconds left in the first period, at the buzzer in the second period, and with 12 seconds left in the third period.

"That was the new Mike Kraft," Lorenzo said.

Once he comes off the mat, Kraft remembers little of the match.

"People always say to me, 'That was a great single-leg,' and I'll be like, 'Really?' " he said. "I'll have no idea. That's why I have to watch my films --so I can see what I did. I'll watch the films and think, 'Wow --I did that?' "

Kraft said he hasn't yet thought about what he accomplished at the tournament, and after being "destroyed" by Black, he didn't feel like celebrating that he qualified for nationals. Since he hadn't watched films, he didn't remember any of the takedowns he scored.

But Kraft smiled when graduate assistant Dan Mayo asked him about his weekend.

"I had fun," he said.