This week’s Concord Journal just arrived with a nice story covering last weekend’s D2 State Wrestling Tournament in which Nicolai is pictured on the front page of the sports section. This will be the last such coverage this year as Nico has decided not to wrestle at All-States. Making weight has been a struggle all season and not something he wanted to extend for another 2 weeks. He is already back to his nominal weight of 125 pounds, a far stretch from his 106 pound weight class. Even more of a factor in his decision, however, was the fact that he was the only member of his team to qualify. As such he would have to train at distant Winchester High School every day with wrestlers from other teams. For Nicolai, wrestling has always been as much about camaraderie as it has been about the sport. We can only respect his decision and look forward to next season when we hope he will select a less ambitious weight class to compete at. He concludes this year’s season with a 19-1 record (13 by pin, 3 by tech fall, 3 by decision), outstanding wrestler honors and 1st place finish at sectionals, and third place at the D2 State Tournament.