On Sunday, March 1 in Providence, one of Noah Caskey's lifelong dreams came true. A Coast Guard Academy freshman and Montville High School graduate, Caskey qualified to wrestle at the NCAA Division III national championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, finishing third in the Northeast Regional at Rhode Island College.

On Thursday, March 12 in Cedar Rapids, Caskey's parents, Greg and Nicole, had just arrived at the team hotel following a 17-plus hour drive from Oakdale. They were just outside the hotel, under an overhang designed for unloading luggage without being exposed to the elements, where Coast Guard coach Kevin Bratland greeted them, then stepped away for a moment to read a text message.

The Division III tournament was canceled, as were NCAA tournaments in all sports for both winter and spring.

"They're like, 'No, we're serious,'" Caskey said this week of he and his teammates thinking it might be a joke from their coaching staff. "They had to say it once or twice. We just couldn't believe it.

"Oh, absolutely it was tough. It was Thursday night and a bunch of parents had just got there, including mine. Coach comes up and gives us the news. We were all shocked. We weren't thinking about, 'Oh, this could get canceled.' It was disappointing. It was heartbreaking to see our seniors not get to go out and perform how I know they can."

Six members of the Coast Guard team qualified for the national tournament, scheduled to be held that Friday and Saturday.

Phil Rogers (165 pounds), Paul Detwiler (184) and Jon Wagner (197) all won regional titles to advance to the nationals. AJ Aeberli (174) and Patrick Irwin (heavyweight) were runners-up and Caskey (141) wrestled back after a loss in the quarterfinals, winning three matches on the final day of competition to clinch third place.

The stats say Caskey was 26-4 with eight pins for Coast Guard in his freshman season.

But that doesn't tell the whole story of how Caskey, the 2018 State Open champion for Montville at 132 pounds — he was 47-2 his senior season with Class S Outstanding Wrestler honors, as he captured his third class meet title — came to be in Cedar Rapids in the first place.

According to Bratland, Caskey was put on Coast Guard Academy's waiting list for admission and was in the midst of being recruited to wrestle elsewhere. Bratland was then informed Caskey he could have a spot at Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, R.I., deferring his arrival at Coast Guard by a year.

By then, it was a short time until Caskey needed to report for training. Bratland reports that Caskey was less than thrilled at the start.

"A crazy story," Bratland said. "He went from maybe not coming to the academy to two days into Swab Summer he wanted to leave. He dealt with a lot of adversity at that time. That just shows his character, the kind of kid that he is."

Caskey wrestled at NAPS last season, honing his military training and studies along with his wrestling. Then, when he finally got to Coast Guard, it came at the same time as fellow freshman Caden Mareno, who more or less won the 141-pound slot in the Bears' starting lineup.

Moreno dropped a weight to 133 pounds late in the season, however, allowing Caskey his opening to start at 141.

Caskey, ever patient, never complained about his circuitous path. He doesn't even mention his rocky start prior to NAPS, just that he's thrilled with where he landed.

"My friends and their families always say, 'It's so cool you're going there,'" Caskey said of Coast Guard, where he is an operations research and computer analysis major. "I'm proud of what I chose to do. I'm very happy with my decision.

"... What our coaches did (splitting time between he and Mareno), they were very fair about it. They would assess the other guy and see who matched up the best with him. I thought it was fair. Caden is a great guy, one of my best friends for sure. He helped me a lot this year with my standup game and how I did in neutral position. (Bratland and assistant Dylan Foley), they're stellar coaches; they helped me throughout the year."

Bratland says Caskey is "like a gyroscope," always spinning, always upright.

"You could drop him from the ceiling and he could land on his feet," Bratland said. "Probably one of the most athletic wrestlers I've seen. ... He's a much better wrestler than when he was in high school."

"At this point, I think my top game is the best. I've had a lot of success," Caskey said, asked his strength as a wrestler. "(And) my heart. When I go out and wrestle, I don't ever give up on anything. It's a very physically demanding sport. I try to give it my all every day. I started when I was 4 and ever since I started wrestling, I've loved every second of it. I miss the season already."

Caskey, whose older brother Jake is training for his first MMA fight, lost to Max Tempel from Castelton in sudden victory in the regional quarterfinals. A day later, after wrestling back to reach the consolation final, Caskey took on Tempel again with a different result, winning 3-1 to earn the trip to Cedar Rapids.

"I was excited," he said of the bout. "My coaches were talking to me, my dad was there, all just telling me, 'You know what this kid is going to do.' I went out and performed."

Caskey trailed 1-0 on an escape by Tempel, but scored a takedown with 50 seconds remaining in the second period and then an escape to start the third period for the 3-1 win.

He's fully appreciative of the fact such a feat as reaching the national championship meet might never happen again in his career, but he's fully dedicated to making it so.

There's certainly time to think about what might have been. Caskey drove back from Cedar Rapids with Greg and Nicole and is now at home with them as Coast Guard cadets were not permitted back at the academy following their spring break.

"It was great to have him locked in the car with us for 17 hours," said Greg Caskey, a retired Navy commander who helped steer Noah to Coast Guard. "We got to ask him all kinds of stuff, standard mom and dad stuff. ... (He and Jake, also a former state champion wrestler at Montville), they love working at it, they get to see, 'The harder I work, the more reward I get from this sport.' They have a lot of self-motivation."

Said Bratland of his Coast Guard athletes having the potential opportunity to close the season at nationals: "It would have been fun. It would have been great. That is the culmination of the wrestling season. But I don't need the national tournament to tell us our guys are good."

v.fulkerson@theday.com