Lance Mailloux, like any natural competitor, will have a tough time shaking the frustration from his first experience at the National Collegiate Wrestling Association Championships on March 10 in Garland, Texas.

As for the legacy his performance helped start, that perhaps will take even longer to undo.

Seeded second in the 235-pound weight class entering the three-day tournament, Mailloux, a University of New Hampshire freshman and Bedford native, manhandled his competition through the first four rounds, pinning three opponents and dominating another in an 8-0 win in the semifinals to reach the national final in his weight class.

Once there, he ran into the defending national champion, David Iobst from Northampton Community College, the same wrestler Mailloux stunned in an 8- 3 decision at the Northeast conference championships a week prior in Troy, N.Y.

This time, however, Iobst was well-prepared, opening the match with a quick takedown and cruising from there en route to an 18-3 technical fall and his second consecutive national crown.

Following the final points, Mailloux rolled from his back, his head gear turned awkwardly around on his head, and shook Iobst’s hand twice before leaving the center mat at the Special Events Center. His second-place finish earned him All-American status, his primary goal entering the tournament, but, as expected, carried with it a slight sense of disappointment. Yet, Mailloux should saddle himself with no regrets, UNH coach Henry Marsh said.

“Lance didn’t do anything wrong in his match,” said Marsh, whose team finished ninth overall and boasted one individual champion in 285- pounder Sax Lynch, a freshman and Mailloux’s practice partner.

“He’s just the defending national champion, and he projected himself that way, obviously,” he continued.

“The biggest difference is that he (Iobst) had two weeks to prepare for Lance. It obviously was an element of surprise (the first time) because he had just been overpowering as the No. 1-ranked (235-pounder) in the country, and with a freshman, ‘Well, this is going to be easy. I’ll just pin him like everybody else.’”

Mailloux nearly turned the tables entirely in the wrestlers’ first meeting, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the first period, but it may have been that start that spelled his end at the national tournament.

Mailloux said Iobst told him afterward that he trained primarily for the West High grad in the two weeks after the conference championship. His homework, Mailloux said, paid off.

“Basically I went out there, he knew the counters and all the moves I usually hit on people,” Mailloux said. “I’m definitely real happy I got All-American, and I’m obviously frustrated that I lost. I had already beaten him once, and I knew that I could have done it again, if I had wrestled a little smarter or whatever. I was a little nervous going into it as well. There was a lot of pressure.”

That’s to be expected, considering the stage, but Mailloux is also using it as motivation. After initially joining the wrestling team midway through the winter as a way to stay in shape for football, Mailloux’s unexpected success means he’ll step up his offseason workouts and come in better prepared next season.

How much he’ll be able to train depends on his commitments to the Wildcats football team, but his finish this year is certainly a fine start to a collegiate career.

“He was just overpowering,” Marsh said. “He was just so mature as a freshman.”