Cardinals enter nationals with solid shot at 14th title

Pat Whitcomb has coached North Idaho College to national championships with unsung lineups and overpowering ones. His teams have captured first without an individual champion and by smashing scoring records.

This year’s crew falls somewhere in between. If the NJCAA Tournament were held in December, few would argue NIC would have walked away with it. However, academics and assorted other issues forced some roster juggling that have left the Cardinals vulnerable as they enter the NJCAA event, which begins a two-day run today in Rochester, Minn.

Despite all the adversity, the Cardinals are still the team to beat.

“On paper, I would think so,” Whitcomb allows, grudgingly, but he freely admits he’s not a fan of the polls and individual rankings. He’s still scratching his head about how, in the span of a week, 184-pound Josh Edmondson of NIC climbed from sixth to first without beating any of the ranked wrestlers in front of him.

Of more immediate concern to Whitcomb is guiding NIC to its 14th national title with a lineup that looks nothing like the December version.

“At the beginning of the season, if you’d said we were going to throw this at you – one is going to quit, the most talented kid is going to have issues, two returning All-Americans are going up a weight and one didn’t make grades – I’d have said, ‘OK, do they give a trophy for 12th place?’ ” Whitcomb said. “But that’s where having some depth and practicing hard pays off.”

There appears to be no dominant team at the tournament. Whitcomb expects the points to be spread out, which means 100 or 105 could be enough. As many as four teams might score between 90 and 105 and the outcome likely won’t be decided before the finals Saturday night, Whitcomb said.

Another interesting scenario could develop. The Division I and Division III tournaments are held jointly, but the divisions crown separate champions. D-IIIs typically don’t threaten the top D-Is in the overall standings, but Whitcomb considers D-III Nassau and Harper serious contenders.

NIC brings one of its most inexperienced lineups to nationals. Six of the 10 Cards are in their first year in the program. Three had their redshirts removed during the season.

“The reason we took the chance (on the three newcomers to the lineup) is we’re hoping they can step up and be All-Americans (top eight),” Whitcomb said. “Every team thinks it has three, four, five horses, but then there’s some on the outside that have to get it done.”

NIC’s horses are Justin Pearch at 141, Derek Kipperberg at 149, Josh Erickson at 165, Kyle Frawley at 174 and Edmondson. Jeff Hedges, at 124, has a tough draw because top-ranked Seth Wright of Northwest Wyoming injured defaulted in his regional final. That means Wright probably will be Hedges’ opening opponent.

“But hey, he’d have to beat him anyway, why not beat him right away?” Whitcomb said.

Whitcomb subscribes to the theory at nationals that somebody unexpected will be a pleasant surprise and someone considered a lock will disappoint.

“It’s almost a rule of thumb,” Whitcomb said. “Unless some team just goes crazy, I think seven All-Americans win this thing or at least puts you in position.”

Whitcomb would feel more comfortable if this were a dual-match tournament, but it’s not. NIC was 17-2 in duals and 4-0 against teams ranked in the top 10.

At the NJCAAs, though, three or four standouts could be enough to carry a team to the title. Lassen (Calif), NIC’s regional rival, and Western Wyoming fit that profile, according to Whitcomb.

Labette (Kan.), ranked No. 2 behind NIC, should be in the title hunt, too.

“It’s been a wild ride just for the fact that we had a great team, but we’ve had a lot of obstacles,” Whitcomb said. “Usually when you have a year like that you have some kids that you don’t care for, but I really like all these kids. They’ve dealt with everything really well. I don’t know if I’d wish this year on anybody, but I’d rather have a year like this than a smooth year where we finish third.”