Aldrich-Knebel battle again; Nichols wraps up year

Justin Aldrich of LaCrosse works behind Cache Kirshenm of Ocosta on the way to a 10-4 decision.

Jesse Nichols gets position on Stephen Talen of Tacoma Baptist in the first round at state.

Justin Aldrich of LaCrosse and Pomeroy teammate Troy Knebel collided for the last time Saturday in Tacoma when they were battling for the third-place medal in the 160 class of the B division of the mat classic.

Knebel, who topped Aldrich by two points when they collided in the sub-regional two weeks ago at Ritzville, prevailed again with a 3-0 decision to take third place. Aldrich finished with the fourth place medal to conclude his senior year mat run.

Jesse Nichols of St. John/Endicott ran into a tough entry in the 152 class and sustained two losses in the state finals. Pomeroy’s Scott Wolf, who dominated the class in the qualification rounds, took the gold for the 152s.

SJE Coach Gary Newton said Nichols battled the flu along with state opponents in the Tacoma run. The SJE senior was credited with giving it his all under the circumstances.

The whole SJE team traveled to Tacoma to back their entrant and experience the state show. The Eagles also added support for Aldrich who last year commuted from LaCrosse to wrestle with the SJE team.

Reardan’s mat team, which was in a three-way rumble with Kittitas and Pomeroy in the two previous qualification meets, bagged the state B title with 152 points Saturday in the Mat Classic. Pomeroy finished second with 127, and Kittitas finished third with 125 to underline the SE district domination of the B division.

In the 160 class, both Aldrich and Knebel, ran into Darrington’s Kolton Palmer who took the title in a 14-1 decision over Kelan Sax of Selkirk.

Aldrich and Knebel both booked wins over Sax last week in the regional round at Kittitas, but the Selkirk wrestler advanced to the title round when the fate of the state matchups chart landed him against the weak part of the state entry card from the west side.

Aldrich advanced to the semi round with an 11-9 win over Davenport’s Troy Stackhouse. That was a hard-fought battle and Aldrich booked the last two points for the win in the final seconds.

He then ran into Darrington’s Palmer, a 6-1 winner over Knebel in the opening round. Palmer decisioned Aldrich 6-1 in the semi.

That put Aldrich and Knebel on a collision course in the consolation bracket. Knebel pinned Stackhouse at 4:16 and then pinned Chuck Myers of Liberty Bell at 2:36.

Aldrich posted a 10-4 win over Cache Kirshem to advance to the all-Pirate consolation final with Knebel.

Nichols was pinned by Stephen Talen of Tacoma Baptist at 3:55 in his first match. He then advanced on a forfeit and then was decisioned by Raymond’s Dalton Collins 6-3. Collins went on to take a 7-2 win over Talen for third place in the 152 class.

The start of the 152s was marred when the Liberty Bell qualifier was booted out after going after a referee following the first match. He had been paired against Pomeroy’s Scott Wolf who went on to add the state medal to his collection over the last three weeks. Wolf decisioned Kittitas state veteran Nate Poulsen 6-3 for the gold.