Chris Debien is back home.
The four-time Cleveland High School state champion and current University of Tennessee at Chattanooga redshirt sophomore spent the 2016-17 wrestling season at 133 pounds, winning 12 of his final 14 matches and the Southern Conference championship at that weight class. He bounced around in weight classes earlier this season, moving up to as much as 149 before recently settling back in at last season's weight.
In his last two matches Debien has registered first-period pins, needing only an average of 54.5 seconds to dispatch opponents from SIU-Edwardsville and The Citadel and improve to 4-2 for the season at 133. He had elected to wrestle at 141 at the beginning of the season - the same weight class as senior Mike Pongracz - but with Pongracz having such a solid campaign, Debien was left looking for a home.
He got his weight up so he could wrestle at 149 but went 0-3 there, so by the time he went 1-2 at the Southern Scuffle, he already had decided to work back down to 133. Over the Christmas break, he said, he sought "the counsel of family, other teammates and other UTC wrestling alumni" in making that decision.
That meant early-morning runs and a lot of weight discipline, and he struggled at first, going 1-2 at the Virginia Duals.
Now slightly more settled in, he's ready for yet another conference run.
"I had to be more diligent, more disciplined," Debien said after Friday's win over SIUE. "Getting down was a struggle, but I stayed positive and stuck with it, and I got my reward tonight."
The decision he made has had positive ramifications on a UTC team trying to figure out how best to be competitive at some of the lower weight classes. Debien's move to 133 puts another championship-quality wrestler at a weight where the Mocs had struggled this season, and once he fully settles in there, the team could be in prime position for a conference championship run.
"Chris is finally at the right weight class," UTC coach Heath Eslinger said after the SIUE match. "He got his weight down, and that's how Chris Debien has to go out and wrestle. When you do that, great things happen.
"It's hard for him (to get to that weight), but difficulty makes you sharp. He sure looked sharp tonight."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.