Drillers get their Nickell's worth
| Saturday, Mar 06 2010 11:53 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Mar 06 2010 11:56 PM
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Bakersfield High coach Andy Varner talks with Driller Ian Nickell during last season’s state tournament at Rabobank Arena. Nickell will be back in action this season as a 112-pounder, ranked fourth in the state.
It's better to be lucky than good, the saying goes, and Ian Nickell got lucky a couple of weeks ago.
Since then, he's just been good.
Nickell, a 103-pound junior for Bakersfield High, placed seventh in the CIF State Wrestling Championships on Saturday at Rabobank Arena, just two weeks after he finished seventh at the Central Section's Yosemite Divisional in Clovis. That wasn't even enough to get him to the section Masters meet until another wrestler dropped out and opened up a spot for him.
"I've been getting chances, and my coach keeps telling me, 'Take these opportunities,'" Nickell said. "'Don't take them for granted.' I realized that I was given an opportunity to do something."
Now, after upsetting state No. 6 Josh Rodriguez of Santa Maria-Righetti in Friday's round of 16, Nickell won a consolation match Saturday morning against No. 7 Damien Gomez of Downey-Warren to guarantee a state medal. Later, he won a 2-0 decision against Garrett Furtado of Turlock in the seventh-place match.
"I mean, holy smokes," Bakersfield coach Andy Varner said. "I'm real proud of this guy. ... We're as excited for him as we are for (finalist) Bryce (Hammond) right now. He thought his season was over a couple of weeks ago."
All of a sudden, nobody cares about seventh in the divisional. Heck, Nickell was seventh in the state.
"It felt great," Nickell said. "I realized I had to really be on my 'A' game to wrestle well. Throughout the season, I've really had trouble putting matches together. I'd have one really good match and then wrestle bad. I think it finally came together."
His performance, plus that of another unranked wrestler, 130-pound sophomore Natrelle Demison, who placed fifth, was instrumental in helping Bakersfield claim the team championship.
"I didn't even know I was going to be able to wrestle at the state tournament," Nickell said. "And now, being a contributor to a state title? It's just icing on the cake."
Wrestling celebrities on hand
Henry Cejudo, a gold-medalist wrestler at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was on hand at Rabobank on Saturday to sign copies of his autobiography, American Victory: Wrestling, Dreams, and a Journey Toward Home.
He also took in some of the state wrestling meet.
"California wrestling is a powerhouse; there are so many good wresting schools here," said Cejudo, a four-time high school state champion in Arizona and Colorado. "I had a chance to see the semifinals today and it reminded me a lot of college-level completion.
"I've seen a lot of tournaments, and I have to say that California by far is one of the best. You can truly say you're a state champion of you win here in California."
Cejedo has been on tour promoting his book and is working on a film about wrestling that will be submitted to the Sundance Film Festival later this year.
He later spoke to the crowd before the state finals and briefly talked of growing up in South Central Los Angeles and watching Michael Johnson win an Olympic gold medal in 1996. He vowed to himself that he'd find a way to win gold one day.
Also on hand was former Cal State Bakersfield wrestler Stephen Neal of the New England Patriots. Neal was signing autographs in an effort to raise money to save the CSUB wrestling program.
Finalist fun
The CIF releases information sheets filled out by each of the state finalists before they wrestle their championship matches, and they're usually good for some good insight or a good laugh.
171-pound finalist James Cook of Madera wrote that his interests included "long walks on the beach drinkin' Mountain Dew." El Dorado Hills-Oak Ridge's Vincent Waldhauser, a 160-pounder, wrote "this one time I did this one thing and it was awesome."
Bakersfield's Bryce Hammond, Waldhauser's opponent, said he enjoyed "dancing in the car" with Coleman, his younger brother who took fourth place at 145 pounds.
Others had more serious notes: Poway's 103-pounder, Victor Lopez, noted "rest in peace Chelsea King" in reference to his schoolmate who was allegedly raped and killed last week in Poway. Lemoore's 152-pounder, Nicholas Sierra, said, as he always does in finals, that he dedicated the match to his brother Lionel fighting in Iraq. His opponent, Loomis-Del Oro's Jesse Stafford, wrote that he was excited to wrestle with his brother next year at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
One other note don't think wrestlers are all dumb brutes. Of the 26 finalists who listed their grade-point average, 21 were at 3.0 or higher, including six who were at 4.0 or higher.
Halfway to history
Selma 112-pounder Alex Cisneros added his second state title in as many years when beat Sanger's Chris Diaz 5-0 for the championship. The sophomore is now two titles away from becoming the second wrestler to win four titles. Cisneros beat Clovis West's Stevan Knoblauch 11-1 in last year's 103-pound final.
The first was Bakersfield's Darrell Vasquez, who turned the trick from 1999-2002. Vasquez added another title of sorts this year as an assistant coach on the team champion Drillers.
