Hardworking CdA wrestler at top of his game

Coeur d’Alene High wrestling coach Jeff Moffat hasn’t seen anybody like Jesse Nielsen and wonders if he’ll see anybody like him again.

He hopes a few more Nielsens come along, though.

Moffat swears the 160-pound Nielsen doesn’t have an athletic bone in his body. Yet the Viking senior is ranked No. 1 in the state and has established himself as the state favorite at his weight.

“He’s an example of a self-made wrestler,” Moffat said. “He’s not a very talented athlete at all. He’s proven what hard work and wrestling all the time can do for a person.”

Nielsen has had a rapid rise after an inauspicious beginning. Nine matches into his freshman season, he broke a bone in his foot while weightlifting. He missed the rest of the season.

Halfway through his sophomore season, he had lost as many as he won. But things started to turn around and he qualified for state, placing sixth and earning a medal. He finished with a 28-17 record.

He took a big jump last year. He finished second at state at 152, losing a heartbreaking 5-4 decision to Tyeson Mitton of Highland in the state final. He finished with a 40-9 record.

Nielsen improved to 28-1 last weekend when he won at the Rocky Mountain Classic in Missoula, his third tournament title. He defeated two of Montana’s top wrestlers. He handled Dan Lau of Flathead in Kalispell, a runner-up finisher at state last year, 12-2 and Max Galland of Great Falls 10-2 in the title match. Galland was 22-1 before he faced Nielsen.

Nielsen’s other tournament wins were at the season-opening Inland Empire Classic at Central Valley and the Rollie Lane Tournament in Nampa. His loss came in the finals at the Tri-State tournament just before Christmas, when Taylor Meeks of Orting, Wash., won 5-3.

“He’s beaten the best wrestlers around here and in Spokane, and the top wrestlers in Montana,” Moffat said.

Nielsen, who wanted to go undefeated this season, was disappointed he didn’t win at Tri-State, perhaps the toughest tourney on CdA’s schedule. In his loss to Meeks, the match was tied 3-3 before Meeks scored a late reversal.

“I thought Jesse outwrestled him,” Moffat said. “He just sort of relaxed on the edge of the mat and (Meeks) reversed him. It’s the closest match he’s had all year.”

Said Nielsen: “I was close to reversing him, but I couldn’t quite do it. I was pretty mad. He’s a good wrestler, but I think I could beat him.”

Nielsen has had his way, though, in most matches.

“What surprises me is the way he’s doing it,” Moffat said. “He’s not just winning, he’s dominating people. He’s doing it by being a blue-collar type guy. He just outworks people.”

Nielsen said final scores can be deceiving. He said one of his more difficult matches was a 10-5 win over Ruben Hernandez of Blackfoot, who is ranked No. 1 in 4A.

“He’s probably the toughest kid I’ve wrestled all year,” Nielsen said.

The match was scoreless after the first two-minute period. Nielsen opened a 5-2 advantage after two periods before doubling the score in the final round.

Moffat’s brother, Kelly, is an assistant coach at CHS. He has worked especially closely with Nielsen the past two years, often meeting him at the school for one-on-one workouts.

“He wrestles 11 1/2 months a year,” Kelly said. “We’ve tried to get him to take more time off but he doesn’t. Two years ago after a tournament in Fargo (N.D.), I told him to take a month off. He lasted only two weeks before he called me and wanted to work out.”

Nielsen’s break was even shorter this year.

“I told him to go to the lake and go swimming and have fun. It was less than a week and he called,” Kelly said.

Nielsen is quiet by nature and doesn’t like talking about himself.

“He does not want attention. He’d rather be the fly on the wall,” Kelly said. “He’s so intrinsically motivated. He’s a tremendous role model for our young team. He’s always the hardest-working guy in our (practice) room.”

There was a crack in Nielsen’s persona last weekend in Missoula.

“He pumped his fist in the air for a split second,” Kelly said. “Then he put his head down and returned to being Jesse.”

Nielsen, who wants to wrestle in college, said he knows he’ll have no problem celebrating if he wins a state title.

He said he wouldn’t be in position to close out his prep career on top if not for the Moffats.

“I wouldn’t have gotten this far without their coaching,” he said.

The Moffats nicknamed Nielsen the “mumbler,” because he doesn’t talk much. Even when he does, it sounds like he’s mumbling.

Nielsen said there’s an easy explanation.

“It usually happens when I’m cutting weight. I’m not in a very good mood when I have to cut weight,” Nielsen said.

In the state final last year, Nielsen needed just a one-point escape in the final 30 seconds to at least force the match to overtime. Instead he worked for a two-point reversal until time expired.

“I thought I could reverse him and win it,” Nielsen said. “I know (second) was better than the year before, but I was ticked off I didn’t win.”

He’s thankful to have another shot at winning a state title this year. If he wins, it’ll be largely because of pure grit.

“Athletic ability only gets you so far,” Nielsen said. “You have to work hard to have success.”