David Marone, a two-time state Class 4A wrestling champion at 215 pounds, was in class last week at Broomfield High School when the girl next to him reacted to a text message on her cellphone.
Something horrible was taking place at Virginia Tech University.
She knew that’s where Marone was headed for college, and she alerted him.
Within moments, David started getting text messages, too. He got up, left class and went to the school library, where his mother, Terri, works. They watched the sad news unfolding on television. A lone gunman murdered 32 fellow Tech students before shooting himself.
“It was really scary at first, partly because I wasn’t sure what was going on with the wrestlers out there, all my buddies,” said Marone, who signed a letter of intent with Tech last November, before his senior wrestling season. “The first thing I tried to do was get in touch with them.”
Marone, also a standout linebacker who was considering scholarship offers to play football, met several Hokies wrestlers on a recruiting visit to Blacksburg.
“The campus was awesome, and it had a small-town feel to it,” he said.
After he won his second straight individual title for Broomfield last month, he also attended the Division I national championships in Detroit in mid-March and cemented the friendships with his future teammates.
So after the murders, Marone ended up getting in contact with wrestlers Robert Buck and Matt Epperly.
“Robert said he was walking out of the building next to the engineering building, so he heard the gunshots,” Marone said.
Buck and Epperly assured him the wrestlers were all right, and the campus was determined to recover.
The Virginia Tech coaches e-mailed Marone, too, attempting to reassure him.
“I told them that, if anything, I was more determined to go there because I saw how they reacted on that campus,” Marone said. “I knew it was a close-knit group, but what I saw in the aftermath showed me how the people were. I didn’t have any second thought at all about going there.
“I don’t think that happening at Virginia Tech has anything to do with the type of place it is. And if anything, it’s going to be a safer place now, one of the safest places to be. I’m still excited to go there, and I don’t have a second thought about doing it.”
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
