Paulson’s Title Helps Nic Take Third

Sophomore 126-pounder Matt Paulson claimed the lone individual title for North Idaho College at the National Junior College Athletic Association Wrestling Tournament.

Paulson was one of three Cardinals who reached Saturday night’s championship round of the two-day event at Bismarck State College. NIC placed third among the 55 teams with 65.5 points.

Co-team champions were crowned for the first time in 30 years, as Lassen College of California rallied to tie defending champ Garden City Community College of Kansas. They had 117.5 points apiece.

Lassen grabbed its share of the title with Joe Watson’s hard-fought, 12-10 overtime decision over NIC sophomore Scott Surplus in the 177-pound final.

Watson was one of Lassen’s four individual champions.

Garden City, meanwhile, had no individual winners, and 190-pounder Jeremy Constance was disqualified for fighting during Friday night’s weigh-ins. As a result, six team points were taken away from the Broncbusters.

Colby College of Kansas was fourth with 63 points, and Clackamas Community College of Oregon finished fifth with 60.

“What hurt us was a couple of things,” NIC assistant coach Bill Pecha explained. “We did a bad job in the consolation matches (winning one of six matches), and these other teams really performed.”

“That was real disappointing for me,” Cardinals coach John Owen said of the wrestle-backs. “The reason we have over 100 All-Americans (top eight placers) at North Idaho College is we tend to wrestle well in consolation matches.

“We did have a good performance… we did not have the numbers. Yet, this team has overcome some every difficult things,” Owen added. “For a bunch of young men, it’s been a tough, long road for third.”

All three NIC finalists met familiar foes.

Paul met Jake Whisenhunt of Clackamas - the pair were also Oregon high school rivals- for the fourth time this year. They wrestled to a 1-1 standstill in regulation, with Paulson (42-7) scoring the go-ahead takedown midway into overtime.

Damon McPherson of Clackamas defeated NIC sophomore Ray Routh 5-2 two weeks ago in the Region 18 final. McPherson, an Oregon State University transfer, earned the national title with an 8-2 decision over Routh (38-7).

Surplus trailed 6-2 against Watson and was awarded a stalling point late in the third round which tied the match at 10-10. “Surplus is a little disappointed,” Pecha

said. “It was a great college match. Everyone was into it with so much on the line.”

The most exciting NIC semifinal win belonged to Surplus, a Richland, Wash., native, who pinned Garden City’s Rich Kreiger in 2:23. Kreiger was the pretournament favorite at that weight.

“Kreiger had a leg-ride on him. Scott grabbed his head, reached under and pinned,” Pecha said. “The place went crazy. Garden City had six in the semis and lost five in a row.”

NIC sophomore Rick Moreno (33-7) placed sixth at 150. Kirk Hartzell and Travis Hughes finished the year 36-12 at 118 and 27-12 at 190, respectively. Freshman Chad Edgar went 28-14 at 134.

The Cardinals have won 10 national titles over the last 21 years, the last in 1993.

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