The wait to wrestle in the NCAA tournament is over for Parker Filius

One year ago, former Havre Blue Pony Parker Filius was one of hundreds of NCAA wrestlers who found out their season was abruptly over. As coronavirus became a global emergency last March, the NCAA wrestling championships, along with everything else in March of 2020, were shut down.

Fast forward one year and Filius will get the chance that got taken away from him last spring.

This weekend in St. Louis, Filius, a four-time state champion from Havre, will compete in the NCAA tournament in St. Louis. Technically, it's his second straight trip to nationals, but, it will be the first time he wrestles on college wrestling's biggest stage.

Of course, that stage will be different then it normally is, as COVID-19 protocols will limit fans in St. Louis. Still, it is the big show for college wrestling, and though the stands won't be packed, the pressure will be.

Pressure though, is something Filius is already used to. In his third Big Ten season, Filius finished with a 7-7 overall record for the Boilermakers, who wrestled a Big Ten only schedule. Then, at the Big-Ten Tournament two weeks ago, he battled his way to a fifth-place finish, punching his ticket to nationals for the second year in a row.

To qualify, Filius had to beat fifth-seeded Dylan Duncan of Illinois in the consolation quarterfinals, and he did just that, with an 11-7 decision. Filius, seeded No. 9 in the tournament, would then fall to third-seeded Sebastian Rivera of Rutgers in the consolation semifinals, but, he bounced right back to beat Northwestern's Colin Valdiviez 5-2 to finish fifth overall.

Filius opened the Big Ten tournament with a win over No. 8 seed Drew Mattin of Michigan to reach the quarterfinals. He bested Mattin 4-3, before having to face No. 1 seed Jaydin Eierman of Iowa in the quarterfinals. Filius fell to Eirman Saturday afternoon but rebounded to beat 10th-seeded Danny Bertoni of Maryland 6-2 in the consolation second round, and that set up a big Sunday for Filius.

Now in the field, Filius enters the 141-pound bracket as the No. 18 seed. He will face South Dakota State's Clay Carlson in the first round on Thursday, with the winner advancing to likely face second-seeded Nick Lee of Penn State in the second round. Eieman is the top seed in the bracket.

Meanwhile, Filius is ready to battle, just like he's always done. As mentioned, this was supposed to be his second trip to nationals, but, he had to wait a year to finally get on the mat. Now, this weekend in St. Louis, the waiting is over.

The 2021 NCAA national wrestling championships run Thursday-Saturday in St. Louis and can bee seen on ESPN.