Repeat champions the norm at regionals

For two years, Jeremy Zabel and Jesse Nielson were practice partners and teammates in the Coeur d’Alene High wrestling room.

A year ago they both mounted the awards platform at the State 5A wrestling tournament: Zabel as a two-time state champion, adding the 160-pound title to the 152 championship he won as a sophomore; Nielson as the runner-up by a single point in the 152 final.

Saturday, they met from opposite sides of the mat at The Arena at Post Falls High in the 5A Region I final at 160 pounds. Nielson wore the tradition blue of the Vikings, Zabel wearing the orange and black of Post Falls.

After a breath-catching moment near the end of round two in which Nielson tweaked a hip and needed attention from the training staff, the Coeur d’Alene senior pulled off a 9-6 victory to advance to next week’s state championship tournament at the Idaho Center in Nampa.

“Those two guys know each other very well,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jeff Moffat said. “For days now people have been coming up to Jesse and telling him that they really want to see him beat Jeremy in the final. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a kid and I think it got to him a little bit in the first and second round, but he regrouped and got the win. Now he can put all that behind him and go on to wrestle at state.”

The injury didn’t appear to be serious, Moffat said.

“At first I thought it might have been his knee,” he said. “But he said he’d just tweaked his hip. He should be fine. But your heart stops whenever someone goes down, especially in a tournament like this one.”

The top three placers in each weight class advance to the State 5A tournament.

The Vikings placed second in the 5A tournament behind repeat champion Lewiston, which sent 11 wrestlers to the finals and came away with seven champions. The Bengals had both finalists at 125 and 135.

“We qualified 13 wrestlers to state,” Moffat said. “But only four of those kids are seniors. The rest are all freshmen and sophomores. And I think we have better wrestling still in us.”

The Vikings had three more champions to go with Nielson’s effort. Braden Mowry was winner by default at 112, Justin Allen won at 171 and Grant Turner won at heavyweight.

Post Falls had three champions: Seth Wright at 119, and Danny and Ryan Booth, who won at 145 and 152, respectively.

4A Region 1

Defending champion Sandpoint came away with seven individual champions to go with its team trophy, scoring 245 points to outpoint second-place Lakeland’s 210.

The Bulldogs won the first three weights on pins by Garrett Belgarde (103), Tim Pepperdine (112) and Colter Sigman (119).

Sam Sisson sparked another run of three straight victories when he blanked Moscow’s Nathan Bosse 7-0 at 152. Paul Mareneau won by decision at 160 and Jacob Knaggs won by pin at 171. Terry Taylor capped the championship effort with a pin at 215.

Lakeland came away with five individual champions: Kyle McCrite at 125, Brandon Richardson at 130, Tristan Stoors at 135, Ken Winn at 145, and Brian Ramus at heavyweight.

Moscow had a pair of champions in Eric McCall, who won by pin at 140, and Justin Perkins, who did the same at 189.

The top two finishers in each weight advanced to the state tournament.

3A District I

It was the odd championship match that did not feature a wrestler in Priest River orange.

The defending champion Spartans sent a dozen wrestlers to the finals Saturday, coming away with five individual champions and qualifying 14 wrestlers for next week’s state tournament.

Priest River scored 2581/2 points to easily defend its title. Timberlake was second with 200 points, with Bonners Ferry third at 167.

James Hegge (112), Mitchell Grove (130), Wayde Rabidue (145), Dan Marquardt (171) and Ned Florea (215) all won their respective weights.

Timberlake and Bonners Ferry each came away with four district champions.

Brian Walker (119), Kyle March (152), Josh Goodman (189) and Dylan White (heavyweight) won for the Hawks.

Ben Watt (103), Jeremiah Solt (125), Isaiah Grey (135) and Dayne Swisher (140) each won titles for Bonners Ferry.

The top three wrestlers in each weight division advance.

1A Districts 1-2

Wallace’s Chad Flatt and Jake Waters captured championships at the tournament in Wallace.

Flatt defeated Kamiah’s Kyle Ringen 11-6 to win the 112 division, while Waters pinned Ran Minden of Potlatch in 3 minutes, 38 seconds to win the 125 class.

Kamiah won the team title.

Mullan’s Devin Street won the 103 class via a bye. Kootenai heavyweight Jason Dutton placed second, while teammate Brett Speelman was third at 189.