THE FRONT ROW WITH BRUCE BOURQUIN: Feb. 28, 2014

Many wrestlers would be happy with finishing third in the NJCAA wrestling tournament.

Not North Idaho College sophomore Vincent James (V.J.) Giulio, a wrestler at the 197-pound weight class, The 21-year-old uses it as motivation in order to try to win a national title this season.

AS THE No. 1-ranked wrestler going into nationals last season, after coming in with an undefeated record at 25-0, Giulio was defeated in the quarterfinals by Josh DaSilveira of Ellsworth Community College of Iowa Falls, Iowa, who now wrestles as a redshirt sophomore for Arizona State. DaSilveira beat Giulio 9-5, but NIC still won its 14th national championship, first since 2003, by scoring 120 team points and tying with Labette Community College of Kansas.

"My name is up in that (NIC wrestling) room under that third-place column," Giulio said. "I look at it every day. It's a constant reminder of it. Some people, it'd make them proud, but it makes me sick to know that I know that I should've won a national title. But it was a good thing, because it let me refocus myself and rededicate myself to all the important things to going 100 percent. It's a constant reminder that you let up for a second, that national title can be stolen from you ... I didn't really have my head on straight. I wasn't eating right, but I'm not trying to blame anything. He was better than me that day, for sure. I was trying stupid moves that gave him some points. By the end, I couldn't get the win back, so it was more of a lesson than anything. That one hurt, but it was good. If the worst thing that ever happens to me is I lose a wrestling match, then my life's not too bad."

GIULIO GETS another chance at a national title this weekend at the NJCAA wrestling tournament, which NIC hosts today and Saturday at the Spokane Convention Center.

"I'm excited now," Giulio said. "I'm at the right place to be mentally before nationals. There's a lot of factors. School can be a stress on you, girls can put stress on you. I don't have any of that. I'm ready 100 percent to just wrestle and I know what I'm capable of."

After winning the 197-pound title at the Region 18 Tournament on Feb. 15 in Rock Springs, Wyo., Giulio is ranked third in the nation in his weight class. He is 32-5 this season and is 57-6 in his career for the Cardinals, who are ranked third nationally.

"This year I have suffered some losses," Giulio said. "But it's better than going undefeated, because you're constantly knowing that someone is going to be nipping on your heels. There have been a few bumps in the road, a few losses. It's a great program, great family atmosphere. We're a bunch of brothers up there (in the wrestling room) and the coaches really care about the wrestlers, because that's the most important thing. Because if the coaches only care about wins and losses, you're not going to sacrifice for that person. But these coaches have their stuff together and it makes it easy to want to win for them."

GIULIO STARRED at American Falls High, a 3A school in eastern Idaho. He transferred to NIC from the University of Wyoming, which offered him a full-ride scholarship after he became the eighth wrestler in Idaho high school history to win four individual state titles, mostly at the 189-pound weight class. He redshirted as a freshman at Wyoming.

But going from a town of 4,421 to a city in Laramie, Wyo., of 31,681 and a school with roughly 400 students - 98 in Giulio's senior class - to a campus of more than 12,000 students at Wyoming, was a significant adjustment to Giulio.

He said he struggled at times with being in large classrooms, where he was in classes with more than 150 students. In his first semester, Giulio was academically ineligible, although he was able to compete in 23 matches through tournaments wrestling unattached, then he was academically eligible during his second semester.

"To be honest with you, it wasn't a good fit," Giulio said of Wyoming. "The area wasn't anything that I was really ready for, the cold and stuff like that. It wasn't where I belonged. The wrestling practices were great and intense and I learned a lot, but as a student it just wasn't a good fit for me. I come from a really small high school and the transition to large classrooms, where the professors look at you as a number ... I needed a transition period, and I didn't really get that, until I came here (to NIC). The crazy thing is, at American Falls, I had a 3.87 GPA. The first year of college kind of hammered me down a little bit."

GIULIO'S PATH to Wyoming came after he originally wanted to attend NCAA Division II St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minn., but changed his mind after considering his options.

"I was fresh out of high school," Giulio said. "My dad knew the deal. So when I got the offer and I saw the kind of program they (Wyoming) had, I was kind of under pressure (to sign). But I still made my own decision, but I was green, I didn't know much. It was kind of a mistake."

St. Cloud State, currently ranked No. 3 in the nation in Division II, was the runner-up at nationals. St. Cloud State had recruited Giulio coming out of high school and, coming full circle, three years later, Giulio earned a full ride to wrestle for the Blizzard, coached by Steve Costanzo.

"He's a great guy," Giulio said. "I thought I let him down choosing Wyoming over St. Cloud State. I feel like I owe him one. I'm pretty blessed to be able to go there."

IN A nice coincidence, North Idaho College head coach Pat Whitcomb's old Cardinals teams used to wrestle against University of Montana, which included a light heavyweight named Jim Giulio, who has been American Falls High's head coach since 1996. Jim Giulio has won five state championships as a coach, after American Falls High had not won a district title in its history, which dates back to the 1940s. American Falls is located 29 miles southwest of Pocatello.

"It's no surprise he's ranked third in the nation," Whitcomb said. "He's been a great fit. He's a great team guy, he doesn't sit there and worry about VJ. He's one of our biggest rah-rah guys behind his teammates, he wants to see them succeed. He had a disappointment last year, where he was ranked number one and he got upset in the quarterfinals at nationals. He bounced back to finish third at nationals and that's tough to do. That's the reason we won the national title last year.

"He's wrestling the best he has all year. He's as well prepared as anyone can be to go out and grab that national title ... he's so physically strong and such a good athlete, it's hard for anyone to match him. You can tell, with the majority of guys he wrestles against, he's head and shoulders above them."

Another coincidence is the fact that NIC assistant coach Keri Stanley graduated from Columbia Falls High, the same high school Jim graduated from, and Stanley won a national championship with NIC in 2003.

"The thing is nobody really knew that I left Wyoming," Giulio said. "Because I was still deciding what I wanted to do. My dad was like, 'You know, you need a transition school right now.' So he calls (coach) Whitcomb and was like, 'hey, I have a guy that wants to come up there and he (coach Whitcomb) was like, 'Who?' And my dad said, 'V.J.' Coach Whitcomb was like, 'Very funny.' Because Whitcomb knew I was wrestling in Division I. He (my dad) was like, 'I'm serious, V.J. needs a place to go.' Whitcomb set it up and it had to be real quick, because school was starting in two or three weeks, so I was late (transferring to NIC)."

V.J. SAID he has a great relationship with his father. During last year's NJCAA tournament in Des Moines, Iowa, Jim was busy coaching American Falls in the state tournament.

This season, nationals will be in Spokane and again, Jim will coach his team at state, which this year is at the Idaho Center in Nampa. V.J., who is majoring in kinesiology, wants to become a wrestling coach.

"We have a wrestling room in our house,", V.J. said. "We just lived wrestling. He's definitely a strict, no-nonsense coach. But he will die for you, if you buy into what he's teaching. So that was easy for me to transition to college, because it takes a lot of dedication to be successful. During nationals this year, my dad will make me call him after every match ... he texts me every single day, asking me how things are going. I wouldn't be half the wrestler I am today without my dad ... without a doubt, I will be coaching (after college)."

But that does not mean Giulio won't have plenty of support from his family at nationals. His stepmom, Jennifer Giulio, and his mother, Dallas Ott, will both be in Spokane.

His girlfriend, NIC sophomore Jordan Moyer, will also be there. Moyer is a general science major and Giulio said she wants to be a neurological assistant.

"She didn't know anything about wrestling before she met me," Giulio said. "Now she's crazy about it; she's my biggest fan. Now my mom and her are always on the edge of the mat, slapping it and screaming. Sometimes I want to just stop the match and tell them, 'You two need to calm down.' It's fun, they are very supportive."

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, or via email at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @bourq25