Thirty seconds remained in the championship match, and Devin Harlin was down four points.

At the Morey Villareal Tournament at Tulsa Rogers, the Muskogee High School wrestler was on bottom. He scored a reversal, but his opponent escaped. Harlin still trailed by three. With nine seconds left, he took his opponent down and secured a pin.

“My team went crazy with cheers and excitement,” Harlin said.

It was his last match of the day and, he said, his toughest. The senior and team captain remembers the win because he had almost run out of time. He also remembers what it took to keep wrestling through the final seconds. “I dug deep down within my soul,” he said.

“Wrestling has taught me that it takes hard work to win,” Harlin said. Losses have given him a reason to come back better and stronger, too. In the wrestling room, teammate Jeremy Patten, another heavyweight, helped him sharpen his skills and pushed him beyond the point when he wanted to stop. Harlin said Patten could motivate him in ways other teammates could not. Patten knew how much more Harlin had to give.

“He knew how to push me past my quit,” Harlin said.

At home, Harlin has four people he calls his parents. Each, he said, has pushed him in a different part of his life. When asked who inspires him, he named all four. He also credits his grandparents, brothers and coaches for standing behind him.

His mother’s advice has stayed with him: “If you put your mind to it, it will happen.”

Harlin was on bottom, down four points, with 30 seconds left. No one else could wrestle those seconds for him. He reversed his opponent, kept working after the escape and got the pin with nine seconds to spare. The win was exhilarating, and hearing his teammates cheer made it a victory he could share with the people who had pushed him to get there.