Motivation is never an issue for Columbia University’s Zack Hernandez.

If it were, getting up at 6 a.m. to lift weights, the lack of a real offseason, the constant wear and tear of endless hours of competition on the mat, the weight cutting, the nagging injuries, all of it would be impossible to keep up with.

But just in case, if even for a split second, the mind began to wander elsewhere, the venue for the 2016 NCAA Wrestling Championships would pull anyone right back in.

For the first time ever, college wrestling’s biggest weekend of the year will be held in the World’s Most Famous Arena, known simply by three letters.

M-S-G.

“It’s the first time ever and it’s my senior year,” Hernandez said over the phone on Monday. “I’m hoping to make a run to the NCAA Championships. Trying to make All-American. That’s the goal.”

Columbia University is approximately 20 minutes from Madison Square Garden, which has hosted everything from two Ali vs. Frazier fights to a record 64 Elton John concerts to the inaugural WWE Wrestlemania, and is home to the NBA’s New York Knicks and NHL’s New York Rangers.

It will add college wrestling to its laundry list of events hosted when the championship meet is held March 17-19.

Hernandez, who is wrestling at 174 pounds this season, qualified for the NCAAs as a sophomore, finishing 23-13 overall with two wins in the brutally tough Ivy League.

He took a step back last season, finishing just 11-17, but has already posted 20 wins this season, including a memorable season opener at the Hokie Open in early November. Hernandez advanced to the final at 174 pounds of the Hokie Open, pinning North Carolina’s John Staudenmayer, ranked No. 9 at 165 pounds by WrestlingReport.com, in the semis.

“That was a big one for me,” Hernandez said. “My (junior) year I was small and couldn’t weight train enough, but this summer I regrouped and I’ve had a pretty strong campaign so far.”

During his high school career at Punahou, Hernandez was a three-time state finalist and won two state titles. Over his junior and senior years, he went 54-0 with 51 pins.

Hernandez wrestled in nine matches as a freshman and was poised to take over a regular role on the Columbia University wrestling team when he tore his labrum in his right shoulder just before his sophomore season.

At Ivy League schools, athletes are not allowed to take medical redshirts, so Hernandez either had to fight through the injury or risk having to reschedule his classes and potentially losing his housing situation.

“I had to take a little time off, but the thing is, it takes about six months to recover (from shoulder surgery),” Hernandez said. “Wrestling for me is about who is the most comfortable suffering the most and I had to be able to suffer the most I could.”

It didn’t prevent him from winning 23 matches and placing fourth at the EIWA Championships.

However, it took its toll in the offseason, keeping him from doing the weight training necessary to stay competitive in the upper weight classes.

Hernandez wrestled at 184 pounds again because the Lions already had a good 174-pound wrestler, but found himself many times weighing 179 or 180 for matches against wrestlers who had cut to 184 and were back up to 200 or 205 pounds by the time of the match.

“They had a big advantage on me, so I had to rely on speed and technique a lot,” Hernandez said. “I wrestled (at 184 pounds) for the team and stepped up and did what I could do.”

The 10-pound weight difference at 174 has worked out this season and Hernandez could be one of three wrestlers from Hawaii to compete in the NCAA Championships this season.

American University senior David Terao (Mid-Pacific) is ranked No. 9 at 125 pounds and Iowa State sophomore Dane Pestano (Kamehameha) is No. 30 at 184 pounds.

“All of us are in the national rankings and we have a very good chance of making the national tournament, so I think it’s going to be a good showing for Hawaii,” Hernandez said. “For me, leaving Hawaii and coming to New York, I always wanted to pave a path for wrestlers to follow me because we don’t get too much exposure on the national scene in Hawaii.”

Hernandez is ranked No. 32 at 174 pounds and will have a chance to improve that mark competing in his final three Ivy League matches.

Saturday’s meet is against Cornell, which will pit No. 4-ranked Brian Realbuto against Hernandez.

“It would be huge if I could get a win there,” Hernandez said. “This year I have a really tough weight class, so there will be eight or nine qualifying spots (for NCAAs). There’s a possibility for an at-large bid, which is like a wild card, but I don’t plan on getting that. I want to automatically qualify.”