Dane Pestano called his parents Tuesday, Mar. 8. What followed was a lot of yelling and screaming.

Pestano’s mom was at work but it didn’t matter, the 184-pounder received an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships in New York City to wrestle in Madison Square Garden.

The Big 12 Conference received three automatic qualifying spots at 184 pounds. Pestano was wrestling for one of those spots in the third-place match at the conference championships.

The winner would get an automatic qualifying spot. The loser would have to sweat it out and wait to see if they would receive and at-large bid.

Pestano fell to Jacob Scheffel of West Virginia 4-0.

“A lot of heart break,” Pestano said of the feeling after the loss. “Falling one match short was just heart breaking. I kind of thought my season was done. I just knew I could wrestle way better than I wrestled in that match.”

The coaches tried to lift Pestano’s spirits after the match, saying that he could still qualify through the at-large process.

He did, thanks to the hard work he’s put since the season ended last year.

“I don’t believe he’s missed a practice,” said coach Kevin Jackson. “He’s done everything right as far as wrestling in our room. He’s made some sacrifices, and he’s dedicated his life to being as good as he can be in the sport of wrestling. And it’s starting to show.”

A typical day in the preseason for Pestano would consist of a three or four-mile run in the mornings, an individual session with the coaches, weight lifting, team practice and getting extra workouts in after practice.

“[He’s worked] as hard as me, honestly, if not harder,” said senior leader Earl Hall. “The guy goes hard.”

All of that work wouldn’t bare any fruits for Pestano unless he had confidence in himself, which he lacked. The past couple of years Pestano said he didn’t believe in himself.

Hall was the one who instilled confidence in Pestano. Hall would tell Pestano that he could do whatever he wanted on the mat — he had the ability.

There might not be a better example of Pestano’s new-found confidence than his results in sudden victory. Pestano has won six times in sudden victory this season.

“When I go into sudden victory I tell myself, ‘You’re not going to lose this match. You’re going to come out on top,”’ Pestano said. “I came out on top six times so that’s not too bad.”

Even though Pestano is confident in himself now, Hall still has no problem expressing how confident he is in Pestano.

“I feel like he’s been waiting to explode on everybody, so at the NCAAs he’s going to surprise a lot of people and he’s going to put his name on the map,” Hall said.

To make a run in the NCAA Championship, Jackson said Pestano needs to look for his offense more. When he goes for a leg, he usually gets it. Couple that with his good defense and counter-offense and Pestano could make a run.

Hall, an All-American, also has some advice for Pestano on how to make a run.

“Score points,” Hall said. “Do what Earl does.”