Relieved to do anything – even granting an interview – other than additional grass-cutting on a pleasant August afternoon, Adam Mars couldn’t help but laugh at the notion that his supreme achievement in wrestling might have taken less time than he needed to fire up his mower.

It only took him 18 seconds, after all, to win his 125-pound national championship bout for Adams State University at the 2001 NCAA Division II finals.

“It’s pretty crazy. The guy that I wrestled, he was a three-time runner-up – ended up being a three-time runner-up – so he had been in the finals twice,” Mars said. “He was a senior when … I was a sophomore, and not a lot of people liked him. He was real cocky. And I went out and pinned him in 18 seconds.”

“I didn’t expect to be there; I just went into every match thinking, ‘You know? I’m just going to give it my all and see what happens!’” he continued. “He shot in, and I was able to counter, roll up on him and got him in a bad position. Kind of a weird position, but I knew where I was, he didn’t know where he was, and I pinned him. It was crazy; the crowd cheered really loud.”

With his title-winning pin of Nebraska-Omaha’s Mack LaRock inside University of Northern Colorado’s Butler-Hancock Hall, Mars became Adams State’s first national champion at the D-II level, as well as rising head coach Jason Ramstetter’s first All-American, and his legacy will now endure indefinitely.

Mars, currently one of Bayfield wrestling’s assistant coaches, was one of 11 former Grizzlies inducted into the ASU Athletics Hall of Fame on Sept. 30.

Joining him in the Class of 2022 were former teammates with Southwest Colorado student-athlete roots, Shane Barnes and Travis Koppenhafer.

“Three of us, the same year, from this area are getting inducted – I think that it goes to show what the area’s wrestling programs do for kids if they’ll stick with it,” said Mars, who attended BHS for two years before moving to Glenns Ferry, Idaho, where he graduated in 1999. “So I think it’s pretty amazing; I’m stoked about it.”

“The fact that they came out of such small schools, and … went on to have great success … at the college level says a lot for where that (Adams State) program was built from,” said Bayfield head coach Todd McMenimen.

“I’m flattered. It’s a cool thing to be part of the Hall of Fame and in the annals of Adams State history,” Barnes said. Barnes moved from Montana to Bayfield for his last two high school years and also graduated in 1999, as did Mancos’ Koppenhafer. “But I’m more tickled that two teammates I had are getting inducted at the same time! We haven’t had a chance to see each other in, like, 20 years or so – that’s really awesome.”

“We knew of each other when we got to college, but we had never actually met each other until then … and we started out as rivals!” Barnes said. “We had to wrestle off for the varsity position … and that kind of competition is obviously difficult on folks but … we were friends right away. He was just across the hall from me and my roommate; we were all thick as thieves for a good, long time – and after we weren’t directly competing against one another.”

“Adam’s one of my best friends; we had a really good time just making a great team, helping Ramstetter build that program, and setting the tempo for what he wanted to do.”

Presently residing in Portland, Oregon, Barnes became a three-time All-American at 141 pounds. He finished seventh nationally in 2002 before winning the national title in ’03.

Barnes was voted RMAC Preseason Wrestler of the Year as well as the No. 1-ranked 141-pounder as a senior to begin the ’03-04 season, and finished his career with a runner-up showing at the nationals championships, hosted by Minnesota State-Mankato inside Bresnan Arena.

Barnes dropped a 6-3 decision in the finale to Merrick Meyer of Truman State (Missouri), who became the Bulldogs’ second-ever national champion and first since 1968. The previous winter at the West Liberty State-hosted 41st NCAA Division II National Championships, Barnes was beyond better, capturing the crown via a 15-3 major decision over Meyer to become Adams’ second D-II champ … after Mars.

(With a career record of 130-26, Meyer, became an NCAA Division II Wrestling Hall of Famer in 2015.)

“It was pretty cool,” said Barnes, the 2003 RMAC Outstanding Wrestler. “I mean, my class was incredibly difficult to place in; a lot of folks were All-American that year, then again the next year … or moved to a different class and ended up winning it. So at the lower weights during that era, it was super difficult. Having folks like Adam, Kortney Lake (a Moffat County alum), Travis … a whole list of guys who were awesome people, good wrestlers – it just made us all so much better.”

“We went into the wrestling world … kind of at a different level from a lot of guys; we were very fortunate to have that.”

Both inductees expressed a sense of pride over having found themselves in the sport while Wolverines.

“I was born and raised, got all my (wrestling) foundation here,” said Mars, noting he wrestled for coaches Rick Edwards and Rick Hahn. “My freshman year, it was a pretty big class of wrestlers: My brother (Dusty Mars) was on that team, ended up wrestling for Colorado School of Mines and was a nationals qualifier for them; Marshall Hahn was on that team, and he went to UNC and was a couple-time All-American; Cody Duran – who went to Mines and wrestled for them – was on varsity.”

“And Shane, when you count him, that’s five guys getting their education because of wrestling!”

“It says a lot about Bayfield’s program – how it really started building up … to a second-place finish at state in ’91, then more in the later 90s with Adam, Dusty, Shane and that whole group,” McMenimen said. “A lot of those guys carried on … to wrestle in college.”

“Then at Adams when I got there,” Mars added, “Daven Reinhart … from Ignacio – and Paul Ruybal – was there for a while, Jesse Roseberry from Durango was there, Mike Montoya from Mancos was there, Scott Koppenhafer – Travis’ younger brother – was there too …. I mean, this area had a lot of kids on that team.”

Another area product is now there; 2021 BHS graduate Dylan Pickering appeared on Adams State’s 2021-22 roster as a 149-pound freshman.

“I love helping the kids; it’s definitely one of my major life passions … seeing them do well,” said Mars, who ended up a two-time All-American. “I was able to help Dylan get on to the team – and they’d just had three national champions! Out of the 10 weights, they had three national champions … and Dylan is right in the middle of those guys. So he redshirted, but … I mean, when you wrestle champions and when they leave, you’re going to be at that level. So for that kid to be in that situation is amazing.”

“When I moved up to Oregon I helped some high schools there and the wrestling is nowhere close to what they have in Colorado,” Barnes said, “at a level of competition and camaraderie. Even opponents that went to other Colorado schools and stuff, we’d go visit them, hang out at parties and stuff – that was something no other athletic team did; our football players didn’t go hang out with Western State’s. … We just had a ton of respect; the RMAC’s super-duper tough in wrestling, so we all understood putting in the time together – kind of that ‘Band of Brothers’ mentality.”

“I think that the amount of discipline you have to put into your life to be able to be successful in wrestling … translates over to everything else,” Barnes said. “Your relationships, your work, and that kind of ethic you have to have – dedication and foresight – while learning that ‘Hey, it sucks right now,’ but if you keep grinding and grinding, things are going to start to pay off. That’s been my mantra … and it’s never failed.”

And though medical issues led Mars to essentially call off his Grizzly wrestling career after a sixth-place, All-American performance at 133 pounds at the 2003 nationals, Mars hasn’t grown tired of helping orchestrate the “grind” at BHS.

“He’s the best technician I’ve had the opportunity to work with; it makes my job pretty easy to be able to sit back and just let him teach these kids the things that he’s learned over the years,” McMenimen said. “He does such a great job explaining it and getting it across to the kids. They relate very well to him in the way that he presents it. Having him in the room is amazing.”

“I love coaching wrestling. I mean, if I could do that for my full-time job and that was all I did, that is all I would do,” Mars said. “But … I’d have to mow a few more lawns to make that happen!”

While reflecting upon his national-championship victory, Mars admitted it was sort of unbelievable that the moment occurred in Greeley.

“Marshall (Hahn) had tried getting me to come to UNC, and … UNC was where nationals was that year. And Jack Maughan, the coach, had also tried to talk me into going there,” Mars said.

“One of his sales pitches was: ‘You could win nationals at home, in our gym, when you’re a sophomore!’ And it happened … but I wasn’t wrestling for UNC! So he comes over afterward and said, ‘See? I told you!’ It was pretty funny.”

“There’s some people out there that say tilts don’t work at the next level, you can’t win state titles with it, that kind of stuff. … And Adam’s proof that you can win a national championship,” McMenimen said. “That was his go-to move, and that’s where he found the majority of his success – on top, running that move.”