MORGANTOWN – Nico Maisel’s first steps were likely taken on a wrestling mat somewhere.
That’s easy to understand considering that the University High School freshman grew up in the Hawks’ wrestling room. His father, Ken Maisel, is the long-time wrestling coach and on Thursday, Ken will lead the Hawks to Huntington for the state tournament.
This year, that state trip will be a little more special for the Maisels.
For the first time ever, the Hawks are the defending state champions. And for the first time, Nico will be wrestling.
“I’m a little surprised by (Nico’s) success,” Ken Maisel said. “I know he isn’t. One thing that he has, to a fault, is that he will go out and compete with anybody. As much as I might be surprised, I don’t think he is.”
Nico, who won the regional tournament, will enter the weekend in the 132-pound weight class as a favorite to advance to the state championship match. Once he gets there, he is likely to face Parkersburg’s Stephen Myers. Nico Maisel has lost twice to Myers so far this year.
“(Myers) might be pound-for-pound the best wrestler in the state,” Ken Maisel said. “We have a plan; we have talked about facing him again. Nico has taken him down before and (Myers) doesn’t handle that well. The problem is, he doesn’t let you get to that point.”
This weekend’s festivities are something Nico Maisel has prepared his entire life for as he watched past UHS wrestlers in this very tournament.
“I have always wanted to wrestle at the big tournaments,” Nico Maisel said. “I have been around this my whole life, and this has been a really cool experience. I don’t think there are many guys in the state that work as hard as I do.”
With Nico’s success this year, the Maisels have walked a fine line between the dad/son relationship and the wrestler/coach relationship.
However, there have been a few special moments this year that Ken Maisel said he is going to look back fondly on.
During the first tournament of the year, in Amityville, N.Y., at the school where Ken Maisel was a standout wrestler and his dad, Norm, was a hall-of-fame coach, it was Nico that stole the show. The youngest Maisel won his weight class, helped the Hawks win the tournament and Nico was named the outstanding wrestler of the tournament.
“I have enjoyed it,” Ken Maisel said of coaching Nico. “It was pretty special when we were in New York. We took a picture in the wrestling room that is named after my dad. We took a picture under my picture in that wrestling room.”
Still, Ken said he tries to leave the coach at the school before coming home.
“(Nico) isn’t like everybody else on the team. If they have a bad practice, they go home and their parents don’t know about it,” Ken Maisel said. “Nico’s dad knows when he had a good or a bad practice. I try to be careful with that.”
Nico and Ken will help lead a contingent of 13 UHS wrestlers who will be favored to repeat as Class AAA champions.
“Our preseason we talked about not being complacent,” Ken Maisel said.
The Hawks have done nothing of the sort as they have won every tournament this season and dual matches. Several of the 13 UHS wrestlers heading to Huntington are favorites to place high or even win their weight class.
Senior Pepper Martin is looking for his second-straight title while fellow senior Brock Kehler is looking for his fourth state title in four years.
“Brock has been so dominant,” Ken Maisel said. “You forget about it at times. It’s an assumption that well, Brock is going to win. You don’t even think about it. It really is exciting for him and our program.”
Kehler is already the first UHS wrestler in school history to win three straight state titles and he is now looking to join an illustrious group of wrestlers, state-wide, who have won four titles in their high school career.
Also, Kehler and Martin have provided some leadership for the younger Maisel both on and off the mat.
“Brock and I are pretty good friends,” Nico Maisel said. “I wrestle with Pepper every day. They really help me a lot and influence me. They make better. Not many guys wrestle a state champion every day.”
— Story by Eric Herter
