Five. Five seconds. Five seconds is all it takes to change the outcome of an entire match. Five seconds can determine the difference between being a national champion, and being the runner up. Five matches can change the way everyone sees you. Five seconds changed two athletes lives forever.

Iowa Lakes Wrestling had a great showing at Nationals, but one wrestler stood out amongst the rest. Marcus Placide, Iowa Lakes 184 wrestler, had a "cinderella run" at this years tournament. Placide made the nationals finals this year in an amazing match that came down to the very end. Taking a look back at Placide's year though, many people may not have guessed he would have ended up here.

Marcus Placide is a sophomore here at Iowa Lakes who is studying to be a personal trainer. He has been a vital asset to the Iowa Lakes wrestling team as a sophomore, but also as a leader. Placide qualified by getting third at regionals with a lot of work to be done for nationals.

This year's tournament was a special run for sophomore Marcus Placide. Placide wrestled in the 184 weight class and had tough battle to get to the top. Placide's first match of Friday was Alex Kauffman from Northeast Oklahoma who was ranked third at the tournament. This was a tough matchup for Placide, but he was able to power through defeating his opponent and moving forward in the tournament. Placide had a tough matchup ahead of him though to continue on in this tournament. He had to face the number one ranked Cameron Page from Jamestown.

This was also a close match coming down to the third period Placide had to get points fast. He got a quick escape and had to get to work. Placide controlled the match by the end, earning a pin and defeating his opponent. This was a huge victory for the Lakers and for Placide.

Placide had one more opponent to face on Friday night. He faced Jared Bird from Western Wyoming and quickly defeated him, but this was not the biggest match yet.

Placide had one more match to get to the championship match. Marcus Placide had to get past Trevor Senn from Clackamas Community College. The match would be a heart-wrenching one, and would stay with everyone watching for some time.  

Marcus Placide had a very close match, that showed why these two wrestlers were in the semi-finals. This was a close match with back and forth points between the two teams. This match was going to go down to the very last call, but Placide had a different plan. Placide quickly escaped and turned around and got a pin to advance to the finals. Clackamus threw their challenge block at the call, but the call stood and Placide advanced.

Marcus had traveled a long path to get to this national final match. With the support of his teammates, Placide knew that he was ready to face his next opponent. Head Coach Cody Alesch was ready to take on this opponent with Placide and was excited.

Marcus Placide faced Charles Small from Northwest Kansas in a match that would come down to the last five seconds. During the first period no points were scored, with it being this close the match was going either way. In the second period it was a close match with Small leading at the end, but Placide not wanting to give up. Placide battled back and was up in the last five second by one point. The excitement in the air everyone for Iowa Lakes could feel a victory.

Placide would turn out to lose the match in the last five seconds. Small managed to scramble and get a takedown for two points to give him the upper hand. This takedown would turn out to be the call that would change the course of his career. Marcus Placide lost by one point in the national finals in the last five seconds.

"You can't be great some of the time, and throughout the season, I was not great all of the time," said Placide, "I could dwell on this and think of this as a failure. It's a lesson and it can be that one second that you aren't great that can cost you everything. I never want to feel this feeling again and I want to better my life in every aspect."

Head Coach Cody Alesch was very impressed with sophomore Marcus Placide. With this weekend being his last weekend as a wrestler, Cody was happy to see Marcus make the finals.

"Marcus has been wrestling so well all weekend that we let him prepare how he's been preparing all weekend, trying to keep his emotions down and keep his nerves down," said Alesch, "He wrestled really well, wrestled till the end and was hesitant at the end and it came down to the clock."

Marcus Placide ended the weekend 4-1 overall. Placide won his matches very well and worked so hard this weekend. He made this weekend special for the whole team, walking home a national runner-up. Placide also earned the Joseph A. Rockenback Sportsmanship award, he did very well for the Lakers and represented the team and the school well. Placide accepted the match graciously , acknowledging his mistakes.

"Got into some good scrambles early on, tried some big moves and they worked," said Placide, "But what it came down to was I stopped wrestling in the last five seconds. I can sit here and be mad about it, but that's what I signed up for."