Tiger wrestler Nate Powell hungry for first state title

The phrase “bouncing back off the mat” certainly could have originated from a wrestling room, and if one’s character is defined by that saying, then Lewis and Clark High School wrestler Nate Powell may epitomize it.

Powell enters his senior season as perhaps the best 4A 125-pound wrestler in the state.

He doesn’t return as a defending state champion, however. In fact, his previous two seasons haven’t exactly turned out the way he planned.

His freshman season, Powell made the state tournament at 103 pounds, joining seniors Aaron Twete and David Kulisch and sophomore Zac Robson.

“I didn’t expect to get to state,” said Powell. “My freshman year, I had people here helping me, telling me what to do.

“They helped me keep my head on my shoulders and not get psyched out. They were my mentors.”

His sophomore season, Powell went unbeaten, entering the regional tournament as the top 112-pound wrestler. After winning the district title though, Powell became sick and lost two close matches at regionals to miss the state tournament.

“I was doubled up on my medication trying to get better fast enough, but it just took it out of me,” Powell said. “I didn’t have the strength I normally had. It was worse the next week.

“Both the matches I lost at regionals, I lost by one point or in overtime. It was worse the next week when I realized if I had just worked a little bit harder for two seconds, I would have been able to be at state.

“I was fine the next week. I was healthy by then, but that’s when it really set in.”

Powell would bounce back the following season, making his way back to the state tournament at 119 pounds. However, in the state semifinal match against Wenatchee, he would lose a four-point lead with just 30 seconds left in the match.

“I was trying to do a stand-up and getaway,” Powell said. “I turned into him too quick because I was tired and didn’t have my technique down enough.

“Since I turned around too soon, he just put me straight on my back. I got away, but he took me down right away because I was too tired to fight him off.”

Powell would once again come off the mat, coming back to win third place.

“It showed us coaches really what he’s all about and the type of character he is,” said Tiger head coach Ty Lingo. “He battled back to take third place.

“He had to wrestle two more matches after that (loss) to earn that third place.”

Powell’s determination and winning spirit can be traced back to his own living room.

Nate’s father, Jeff Powell, was a three-time state wrestling champion at Royal City High School and still wrestles in freestyle tournaments today.

“He’ll come into practice and comes to all the matches,” said Nate. “He’ll write down in his little notebook what I need to work on.

“After the match that night, he’ll go, ‘You did really good – you won – but you’ve got to work on this and this.’ So I’m learning something new every night.”

In addition, Nate’s brother, Trevor, now a sophomore, also wrestles for the Tiger team, going at 119 pounds this season after wrestling at 103 last year. The two are only occasional practice partners, though, probably because they’ve had plenty of previous battles.

“I imagine those kids were wrestling around, tearing up their house ever since they were old enough to do so,” Lingo said. “Last year his parents were mentioning how the boys had put a couple holes in the drywall in the basement from roughhousing.

“I’m sure it’s been going on for years.”

“We’d always just wrestle instead of fight,” Powell said. “It was all wrestling rules, so Mom and Dad wouldn’t get mad. Every once and a while we’d run into something, but it wasn’t too bad, I don’t think.”

Despite growing up in the shadow of a wrestling legend in his own house, Powell will now focus on winning his own state title.

“I think anything less than a state champion this year would be a disappointment,” Lingo said. “I think Nate’s done a really good job of handling that.

“Obviously for some kids, the pressure of having to live up to Dad and all that, but it’s never really seemed to bother him, either. Needless to say, he wants to have at least one on his resume.

“There’s no doubt in my mind he can be a state champion this year.”

“He doesn’t bring it up that often,” said Powell. “He doesn’t try to rub it in my face.

“My freshman year, I was like, ‘Yeah, Dad, I’m winning it four times.’ It didn’t turn out that way, so I have to work extra hard this year so I can say, ‘At least I won it once. Ha!’ “