THE FRONT ROW WITH BRUCE BOURQUIN: Friday, Nov. 18, 2016

Cooper Thomas recently defeated the fourth-ranked NJCAA wrestler in the nation, earned a blue belt in jiujitsu and loves devouring chicken and brown rice.

But it’s what got the North Idaho College redshirt sophomore heavyweight wrestler where he is today that’s even more interesting. The born-and-raised native of Maple Valley, Wash., began his journey at Tahoma High in nearby Covington, located 26 miles southeast of Seattle. It has continued this season as a NIC Cardinal.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of jiujitsu is an art of weaponless fighting employing holds, throws and blows to subdue or disable an opponent.

“I started wrestling my junior year at Tahoma High in Maple Valley,” Thomas said. “A friend introduced me to jiujitsu right before I started my junior year. I stopped the summer after my senior year. It’s aggressive, it’s more like wrestling, except there are no pins. There’s MMA-style kickboxing, you can attack joints and try to get your opponents to tap out. You get points for takedowns. If they don’t tap out, you just win (or lose) on points.”

Combine that with a two-year wrestling career that eventually led to a seventh-place finish at 195 pounds at the Washington state 4A wrestling meet. Prior to his junior season, Thomas weighed 315 pounds, lost 125 pounds and at one point was 190 pounds.

“I worked out so hard, changed my diet,” Thomas said. “I ate chicken, fruits and veggies, I ate brown rice. The big difference was I could run stairs (during workouts). I couldn’t have done that in the beginning. My junior year I weighed 195 pounds after six-and-a-half months.”

THIS SEASON Thomas wrestles at 240 pounds in a heavyweight division where opponents can weigh between 197.1 and 285 pounds.

On Nov. 3 in a 33-3 NIC win over Highline College in Des Moines, Wash., the 6-foot-3 wrestler beat No. 4-ranked Miguel Morales, 7-3. In a 25-16 loss last Saturday to University of Great Falls, Mont., a NAIA four-year school, Thomas defeated Andreas Geranios in a 5-2 decision. This is his first year starting and for now he has a 10-3 record.

“It feels great to be starting,” Thomas said. “I feel like I’ve gotten what I’ve got for some time. I always want to be better. I’m happy with where I am but never satisfied. I had a hunger to grow. I don’t really pay attention to national rankings, I just focus on my match at the time.”

That hunger to grow was evident to NIC wrestling coach Pat Whitcomb.

“He’s one of those stories you hear about where when he first came here he just wanted to be a part of the wrestling team,” Whitcomb said. “He had to figure academics out, and he knew he wanted to work hard where he needed that first year to kind of get acclimated to where things were.”

Thomas has attracted some interest from NAIA schools like Montana State-Northern of Havre, Mont., and University of Great Falls.

“Last year, (former all-American) Damian Trujillo was there at heavyweight,” Whitcomb said. “So he had great workout partners with him and he really focused after being here two years, this year was going to be his year and he decided to come back. That third year, you could just tell from his diet to his lifting, to his commitment to getting in there and going after things (improved). He’s figured out what he needs to do this year and what he needs to do academically and athletically. He’s seen what it takes to be an all-American.”

This season it’s so far, so good for Thomas. On Nov. 6 in the Mike Clock Open at Warner Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., Thomas finished third after a tough 6-2 loss in the opening round.

“Placing third in that Pacific Open after a first-round loss to the Warner Pacific kid who ended up winning the weight class, he got stronger as the day went on. So Cooper’s in control of his own destiny here. He’ll continue pushing himself hard, he’ll do nothing but get himself better and the experience is there. I think he realizes this is his opportunity. It’s not a matter of if he’ll wrestle after this season, it’s where. So far he’s wrestled where. It’s a matter of where he goes from here.”

THOMAS BEGAN his NIC career as a walk-on freshman weighing 200 pounds, went 1-2 and he wrestled in practices against former NJCAA all-American and 2015 NJCAA national champion Taylor Kornoely, who now wrestles as a senior at Montana State University-Northern. Thomas redshirted last year and said it’s good he did not redshirt his freshman year, since he got valuable experience by competing in both the Wyoming Open in Powell, Wyo. and the Spokane Open.

“I’d get my butt handed to me,” Thomas said of wrestling Kornoely, who beat Thomas 19-2 on Oct. 29. “I always wanted to be better.”

Thomas weighed 255 at the end of his redshirt season, before shedding 15 pounds prior to this season.

This season, Thomas will wrestle in several meets, with an eye on the West District Championships coming on Feb. 11, 2017 at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay, Ore. The top four will head to the NJCAA tournament, which will be held Feb. 24-25 at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

“I chose NIC because I didn’t want to be that close to my parents but close enough where I could go home,” Thomas said. “Plus it’s a powerhouse team. In September of 2014 I made the team. I’m focused this season to go for a national championship.”

Thomas said he wants to transfer to a four-year school but it’ll depend on what scholarship offers he gets. He wants to either major in business or become a personal trainer. He likes going out with his girlfriend of nearly two years, former NIC women’s soccer player Elly Priddy, on date nights watching movies and eating a nice dinner from time to time. Thomas lives in an apartment off campus with Priddy and his teammate, 174-pounder Alex Aguilar.

Besides chowing down on baked chicken breasts and sweet potatoes, he likes the breakfast foods — eggs, toast and oatmeal.

Thomas has a decent shot at winning a national championship and becoming yet another Cardinal All-American. He’s in the middle of his journey to try and make those goals a reality.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, via e-mail at bbourquin@cdapress.com or via Twitter @BruceCdAPress