Edinboro’s Chris Honeycutt wins the Cliff Keen Invitational last month in Las Vegas. Tony Rotundo photo.

Edinboro’s Chris Honeycutt stormed into the 2011 NCAA Championships in Philadelphia with a No. 1 seed and an unbeaten record.

Honeycutt rolled to a pair of first-round wins on the first day of the tournament, but then he ran into Big Ten champion Quentin Wright of Penn State in the quarterfinal round the next morning.

The ninth-seeded Wright downed Honeycutt 7-3 en route to winning the 184-pound national title.

“I was devastated,” Honeycutt said. “I was very disappointed. That loss really hurt, but I knew I had to quickly regroup and become an All-American.”

Honeycutt did regroup and became an All-American for the first time. He finished fifth.

It was the final time he would wrestle 184. Struggling to make 184 as a junior, the burly Honeycutt decided to bump up to 197 for his senior season. The move has paid off in a big way.

Honeycutt is 25-0 and ranked No. 2 nationally. He has won major titles at the Cliff Keen and Midlands events this season.

“I am finding the sport being a lot more fun and enjoyable this season,” Honeycutt said. “I kind of dreaded wrestling at times last year because I was so worried about managing my weight. Last year at NCAAs, I had to limit how much I ate and how much I drank. I was worried about that when my focus should have been just on wrestling.”

Honeycutt can concentrate more on wrestling this year. He walks around at 205 pounds and can easily make the 197 class.

Honeycutt watched fellow Ohio native and friend Dustin Kilgore bump up from 184 to 197 during the 2010-11 college season. Kilgore won a 2011 NCAA title for Kent State.

“Watching what Dustin did and seeing him have success after moving up to 197, I knew it would be a great fit for me,” Honeycutt said. “I talked to Dustin and got some great input from him. Moving up has made a big difference for me this year.”

Edinboro coach Tim Flynn has seen the change in Honeycutt this year as well.

“Chris had a really good year at 184 last year, but there were times he couldn’t wrestle to his potential because he was sluggish,” Flynn said. “He didn’t have the energy he wanted to have last year. It was a grind and it was tough on him. Since he has moved up to 197, he’s really been impressive. His energy level is there. When he can wrestle all-out for seven minutes, he is a handful. He is plenty big and plenty strong at 197.”

Honeycutt is on course to graduate from Edinboro in May.

“Edinboro’s been a great fit for me, academically and athletically,” he said. “It’s like a family here. The wrestling team is real close. It’s been great.”

Honeycutt said he hopes to compete in April’s U.S. Olympic Team Trials in freestyle wrestling.

“This is an Olympic year, and I’m pretty sure I will at least give it a shot,” he said. “I will be in the best shape of my entire career at the NCAA tournament, so why not wrestle in the Trials right after that?”

Honeycutt said he is interested in pursuing a career in mixed martial arts. He has trained with MMA star Josh Koscheck, a past NCAA champion for Edinboro, at his gym in San Jose, California.

“I am definitely thinking about going into MMA,” Honeycutt said. “I trained and sparred with Josh for about three weeks. I think I could do real well in that sport.”

Honeycutt said he envisions winning the NCAA title every night before he goes to bed.

“It would be great to stand on top of the podium in front of 20,000 fans and have people see that on ESPN,” Honeycutt said. “To be an NCAA champion, that would obviously mean a lot. I know I can win the tournament, and I think I am the best guy. I just need to go out there and prove it. I am a senior and it’s my last national tournament. It’s all or nothing. I need to treat it like any other big tournament and wrestle like I am capable.”