NJCAA WRESTLING TOURNAMENT: The right kids to believe again ... NIC sets sights on nationals starting Friday in Iowa

NIC sets sights on nationals starting Friday in Iowa

In North Idaho College wrestling coach Mike Sebaaly’s first season at the helm, his goal was to get out and see some of the competition that the Cardinals could wind up facing on the road to nationals.

That final stop begins on Friday at the Mid-American Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa at the NJCAA Tournament.

Sebaaly was hired in June to take over the wrestling program after the dismissial of Pat Whitcomb in January of 2019.

“There’s a lot of good here, and a lot of good kids here,” Sebaaly said. “I was hired late, so the heavyweight (Cohle Feliciano) was one of the few guys I brought in. We’re just trying to uphold the tradition of NIC wrestling. All four coaches before I got here, from Bill Pecha, John Owen, Les Hogan and Pat, they’ve had great success. We’ve wanted to honor that tradition and represent the college the way it should be.”

NIC finished sixth at nationals last year. NIC has won 14 NJCAA titles, the last coming in 2013.

“To be successful, you want to work hard, be honest with each other and be good teammates,” Sebaaly said. “If you work hard, and do the things you should be doing, you should have success. We’ve got a lot of talent here and have kids with the talent to be All-Americans.”

Sebaaly came to NIC after five years at Northwest Kansas Technical College in Goodland, coaching 11 All-Americans, four national finalists and three national champions.

“When I was at Northwest Tech, and here, if you recruit the right kids, and get them to do the right things, you can be successful,” Sebaaly said. “There’s so much talent here, and it’s a great place to recruit to. Here, you’re going to have a campus on the lake, the trees, the mountain and the community. It’s North Idaho, and we need to believe in those things we’ve talked about.

NIC has competed in duals tournaments in Great Falls, Mont., Reno and Miami, Okla., where they saw a handful of the teams that will be in Council Bluffs this weekend.

“We’ve had great support for our program and have had a great opportunity this year to go see a lot of different people,” Sebaaly said. “We drew some Iowa Western kids, as well as some Ellsworth kids early on. And they’re guys we’ve seen before. Some guys, they’ve seen these guys wrestle before. All of our work has been put in, and we’ve got to have a good couple of days from here.”

Sophomore Hunter Gregerson (184 pounds) is the lone NIC wrestler with a opening round bye.

All of NIC’s 10 wrestlers from the West District Championships on Feb. 16 qualified for nationals, which begins Friday at 7:30 a.m. PST.

Other NIC qualifiers are: Andres Lucero (125), Isaac Lopez (133), Larry Johnson (141), Salvador Silva (149), Navarro Nanpuya (157), Izaiah Duran (165), Alan Badley (174), Micah Tynanes (197) and Feliciano (285).

“There’s going to be a tough draw in almost each bracket,” Sebaaly said. “I’ve told our guys you’ve got to make North Idaho the tough draw. We’re in good shape and all pretty much ready to go.”

Clackamas is the defending champion.

“They’re wearing the target on their backs for sure,” Sebaaly said. “Iowa Western was second at the national duals, Western Wyoming is always tough and Northeast Oklahoma is tough as well. There’s five or six teams that have a chance. If Clackamas falters, someone might be able to catch them.”