Aburakhmanov achieved the highest individual placing ever for an AU wrestler at the NCAA Championships as he was awarded third-place after his opponent Deonte Penn of Edinboro - who he had pinned earlier in the Championships - had to medically forfeit from the tournament. The AU senior had previously defeated Travis Paulson of Iowa State 7-2 to earn a spot in the third-place match.
The Uzbekistan native's third-place finish culminates his run as one of the best wrestlers and athletes in American University athletics history. Abdurakhmanov is the wrestling program's sole two-time EIWA Champion and Most Outstanding Wrestler winner from the EIWA Tournaments. In addition, his resume includes a career record of 55-4, the highest win percentage of any AU grappler of all-time. Over the past two years Abdurakhmanov has gained wide notoriety across the country for being perhaps the best wrestler on his feet, taking bonus points in 31 of his 55 wins. Abdurakhmanov is also the only Eagle to go undefeated in duals in his career at AU, which is even more impressive considering he wrestled up a weight several times.
"Muzaffar has done so much for this program," head coach Mark Cody said. "He's been a pioneer. In what he's done last year and this season, he's basically put us on the map. Everybody loves him and loves to watch him wrestle. It's really, again, unfortunate what happened last night [in reference to the stalling point call, which cost Abdurakhmanov the semifinal]. I got so many comments from people today that could not believe what had happened. If I had a dime for every coach that came up to me, I'd be able to pay for my flight home. There was not one person that agreed with that call."
Sophomore Glenn pinned his first consolation opponent in 2:44, but fell behind early to Illinois' three-time All-American Pete Friedl and dropped a 13-2 major decision, relegating him to fourth-place. Glenn's 4-2 record in the NCAA Championships moves his season mark to 35-3 with 21 falls. He had the second most falls in the country, including three over All-Americans this year. In addition, he became the first underclassmen to win All-American honors in AU wrestling history.
"Josh was very straight on today," Cody said in describing Glenn's mat style. "He may have needed to do something else to get by his opponent's arms. Anytime you get out of your game in a match like that, a guy can pull away from you. When Josh knew he was a little too far behind he started to get a little sloppy, trying to score."
Of Glenn's year, Cody added, "Josh has had an incredible performance. He's a wonderful guy. He had a very substantial injury this year, but we did not hear one complaint out of him about it. We gave him about a month and a half off out of live practices. He dealt with a lot of adversity this year and did a very good job."
The duo's All-American nominations cap a triumphant turnaround in all facets for the Eagles from previous years. In 2005-06, American shattered its previous high NCAA finish of 32nd, won its most dual meets since 1989 and had three wrestlers ranked in the top-10 at once for the first time in school history.
"We're moving in the right direction," Cody said. "Our goal is to get to the top. We're going to put in the time we need, recruiting-wise because there's a lot of competition out there. There's a lot of parity out there and that keeps us on our toes. We're going to keep going and try to outwork everybody and do the right things."
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