ALL-STARS: The best high school wrestlers from Westchester/Putnam
ALL-STARS: The best high school wrestlers from Rockland County
Two sudden passings
Gihan Hemida was diagnosed with breast cancer more than 10 years ago, but she did her best to downplay the severity.
"It's something that I got kind of numb to," Youssif said. "As a kid in middle school and high school, you see your mom going through chemo and you think, 'She's a fighter; she's coming out of it.' "
Gihan went into remission while Youssif was a student at Mamaroneck High School, but the cancer resurfaced in recent years, spreading to her skin and lungs.
Last fall, the prognosis took a turn for the worst.
"Cancer comes back stronger every time," Youssif said. "These times, it was getting bad."
He spent the beginning of the fall semester bouncing back and forth from Maryland to New York, struggling to keep pace with his class load and offseason workouts.
Suddenly, on Oct. 21, Youssif's grandfather passed away. Two days later, his mother was gone, too.
"I was in a daze," he said. "I'm walking around (New York City) just thinking, 'How is this happening? What is going on?' "
'You have to have that fire in you'
At the height of his grief, a gesture from his teammates lifted Hemida's spirits.
The entire Maryland wrestling team and coaching staff took a bus to New York for his mother's memorial service.
"That meant the world to me," he said. "The amount of people who reached out to me, it meant a lot. It made dealing with it a little easier."
Hemida rode that wave of emotion to an inspiring second-place finish at the world championships. Upon his return, reality set in.
He had withdrawn from the fall semester to spend time with his family, which meant he had to sit out for the early portion of his final collegiate wrestling season. He returned to the team in January, hoping to pick up where he left off.
The strong showing at the world championships, coupled with an All-American finish in his junior season, had raised the bar for Hemida. He expected to enter the national title conversation at 285 pounds, but during one stretch in early February, he lost four consecutive matches.
"The training was there — it was more the mental aspect," said the 2015 New York State high school champion. "You look at the rankings, and I kind of got caught up in thinking, 'I'm a senior, I should beat that guy,' that sort of thing. It's kind of like I was wrestling to hold on, not taking many risks — and I think I got punished for that."
Things seemed to be getting worse when Hemida lost his opening match at the Big 10 Championships last week, but the way he responded inspired hope for a strong finish.
He won his next five matches, battling back for a third-place finish. It lifted his national ranking to No. 6 in his weight class and provided a boost of confidence heading into his final NCAA Championship tournament.
"I could have hung my head and prayed for a wild card, done barely enough to qualify," Hemida said. "I don't think my coach (Kerry McCoy) would have been mad at me. They say, 'We know you've had a hard year.' But I took that first loss, and thought, 'What's the next best thing I can do? Let me go take third.' You have to have that fire in you that you want to keep going."
The final college competition
Hemida will enter the NCAA tourney, which begins Thursday at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, as the No. 10 seed at 285 pounds.
"To not be seeded in the top eight, I'll use the word disrespected," he said, adding, "I think I'm going to be a bracket-buster."
His weight class, which was dominated in recent years by Olympic champion Kyle Snyder of Ohio State, is now considered wide open. Each of the top three seeds has one loss this season, with Hemida having taken top-seeded Derek White of Oklahoma State to overtime at the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic in November.
"The weight class shows a lot of parity," McCoy said. "The top three guys have been very consistent. In the end, I believe Youssif has the ability to win against anyone in the tournament."
No matter how it turns out, he's proven his resolve to those who know him best.
"Youssif's season is already a success," McCoy said. "Many people could not have endured what he went through this year."
While Hemida appreciates the sentiment, he knows he has a job to do. He plans to leave it all on the mat, knowing his mother and grandfather wouldn't have it any other way.
"I could go out there and come home a national champion, or I could go out there and not even place," he said. "We can talk about it and do all these things — but at the end of the day, you have to go out there and compete. It's beautiful, but it's also scary. That's the scenario you're facing. I'm nervous, but I'm excited to go out there and put on a show."
Twitter: @vzmercogliano