Standing only four feet high, it's the most imposing presence in the FargoDome. It's not a wrestler, a security guard or a coach.    It's Mat 1.    Of the 23 mats set up every year at the FargoDome, Mat 1 stands alone, figuratively and literally. Mats are assigned at random, so the chances of the defending national champion competing on Mat 1 and a rising eighth-grader fresh off the junior varsity wrestling on it are equally as probable.    A wrestler that ascends up the eight aluminum steps into the spotlight on Mat 1 for the first time knows that they are being watched. The coaches know it too.    "I think Mat 1 can tell you a lot about a kid. In tight situations, it gives you a chance to see how they react," said Virginia Greco-roman coach Phil Cronin.    For others, wrestling on Mat 1 is the goal, not just another match in a tournament.    Northampton, Pa. wrestler Steve Mytych placed fifth in the Cadet Greco tournament last year. This is his second trip out to Fargo, but a fifth-round match with Virginia's Gene Allgood brought him to Mat 1 for the first time.    "As I was running up the steps, I was like… man, this is awesome," Mytych said.    Mytych's first Mat 1 adventure ended in a 6-0 win, including a big throw that earned him three points. He's hoping to get another crack at it.    "Wrestling on that mat is where you want to be at the end of the tournament, it's the championship mat.  I didn't get to wrestle on it last year, but you know, that's where you want to be. And to be honest, when I'm sitting in the stands, I really only pay attention to Mat 1" he said.    From a coaching standpoint, Cronin admits that Mat 1 has its unwritten rules.    "When you're on Mat 1, everyone's watching. You as a coach have to be aware of when you can approach the chair, what to tell your wrestlers during the break. It's not just them up on that platform. I don't want to look stupid up there," Cronin said.    "When you're on one of the lower mats, there's coaches all in the corner and people just hanging around," Mytych said.    Cronin concurred.    "It's a lot harder to communicate because really, it's just the kids and the refs up there," Cronin said.    Some wrestlers didn't feel any difference.    Pennsylvania's Jake Quinten stepped off Mat 1 after a 10-0 victory over Brian Reinsenaur of North Dakota with little change in his demeanor.  Reinsenaur was visibly nervous about wrestling on the Mat, he paced back and forth, did a few backflips, asked referee Jose Delgado of Tennessee, "are we going to start exactly at 3 (p.m.)?"    Forget his size, 84 pounds with rocks in his pockets, he was on Mat 1. Everyone was watching.     "I just felt like any other match. I just went out there and try to win," Quinten said, a rising freshman from Plum, Pa.    Quinten is in the minority when it comes to opinions on Mat 1.    Oregon's Merle Crockett had just finished coaching J.D. Goodrich's 105-pound overtime victory on Mat 1 and said, "They (wrestlers) get big-eyed. There's pressure when they get up on that mat."    Cronin, as a coach, had never coached a wrestler in the five years he'd been coming out to Fargo that won on Mat 1 until Friday, where Virginia's Matt Dobson rallied for a 6-5 overtime win at 215-pounds.  But his fondest memory of Mat 1 was in the Junior Greco finals in 2000 when Ohio's Harry Lester beat state teammate Mark Jayne.    "That match was the ultimate. Lifts, throws and crashes that resonated through the arena. I mean when they landed, you could hear the platform shake," he said.    It's four feet tall, aluminum and where champions are made.