Wrestler Nathan Kraisser snaps slump

The stress, the angst, the gnawing doubts — they all disappeared from Nathan Kraisser with one emphatic clap.

A pin, wrestling’s most decisive form of triumph, served as a calming elixir for North Carolina’s Kraisser. He locked Navy’s Brenden Campbell into a precarious position Saturday afternoon, secured the pin and sprung to his feet.

The sophomore clapped once with crack-of-the-whip force. The pin had given UNC life and sparked a swift comeback — his teammates and coaches roared from UNC’s bench. Eventually, though, the rally fell short in the 19-18 loss. .

“I think I got it out of me,” said Kraisser, referring to five losses in his last six bouts entering Saturday . “This is the start of the turnaround of my season. I’m starting to get my style back. I feel like I’m wrestling how I was last year.”

Kraisser emerged as an indomitable force for UNC in 2012-13, nearly as automatic as the reliable Evan Henderson. He went 33-7 and became the first Tar Heel to win ACC freshman of the year honors . Kraisser would turn heads nationally, too, when he narrowly lost to the eventual 125-pound NCAA champion in the quarterfinals of the 2013 championships.

This season began just as promisingly. Kraisser raced out to nine consecutive wins, but then flat-lined and slipped into a drought. It culminated Friday night with a lopsided loss to Maryland’s Billy Rappo, whom Kraisser beat handily in 2013 .

“That’s the worst feeling, when you know you’re better than the kid, you know you can beat him, and I just didn’t perform,” Kraisser said.

The joy of wrestling, abundant in Kraisser since he first stepped onto a mat as a 6-year-old, began to fade. Trying to figure out what went wrong only amplified the strain of the losses, Kraisser said. The slump, once confined to the scoresheet, had become emotional, too.

“Need to change some things in my life to get where I want to be,” Kraisser tweeted Jan. 12. He said the tweet referred to waning focus in practices, as well as poor eating habits. Kraisser once weighed in at 138 pounds following a weekend meet, 13 pounds above his weight class .

Kraisser, 16-8 after Saturday’s win, said he had to rediscover the fun of the sport before he could relax and return to his 2013 winning ways. He also spent time with individual coach Cary Kolat on wrestling more defensively, luring his opponent into a susceptible position rather than frantically grasping for takedowns.

Perhaps, as coach C.D. Mock said, a revival can come from high-octane emotion.

“Sometimes when things aren’t working out, you just gotta get pissed off,” he said.

Kraisser doggedly pursued Campbell from the opening whistle, substituting the listlessness of Friday night with the you-will-not-beat-me fire of Saturday.

“That got everyone going a lot,” said Jake Crawford, a sophomore. “We were all really proud of him. He’s been in a little slump here as well and to see him have that much confidence, it relays to the whole team.”

A downward turn can seem inescapable at times, even catastrophic. Living up to the standards of a sensational freshman year isn’t always easy, Mock said. Slumps are inevitable.

“Get back to having fun and doing what I love,” Kraisser said of his approach Saturday. “I’ve been wrestling since I was 6 years old. I love the sport — I just had to get back to it.”

With one whip-like clap, Kraisser found what he was looking for.

Clap on. Slump off.