San Pasqual freshman Steele wins state title
Nicholas Steele gets 1st at 145 pounds, eyes 3 more in career
PRESCOTT VALLEY — For Nicholas Steele, this was the first of four.
Steele, a San Pasqual freshman, won a state championship when he defeated Arizona Lutheran’s Jake Borneman via a 10-2 major decision in the 145-pound final at the Division IV State Wrestling Tournament at the Prescott Valley Event Center on Saturday.
“My mindset was to win state as a freshman, win state all four years,” Steele said. “I just went to camp after camp to do my best. The two years I’ve been wrestling, I’ve been working nonstop.”
Steele finishes his freshman campaign with a 45-1 record. Borneman has a • Joe Delgado (2011) • Julio Saldana (2008, 2009) • Greg Delgado (2008) • Joe Gustina (2001) • Jeff Stalnaker (1999) • Angelo Derma (1999) • Shawntel Lewis (1999) • Javier Ibarra (1998) • Luis Flesher (1995, 1996) • Dustin Jackson (1992) • Dominick Palone (1992) • Manuel Peraza (1991) • Eldon Miguel (1991) • John Cachora (1990, 1991)
63-4 mark, and all four of his losses in the 2017-18 season were to Steele.
Most of their previous matches had been close, but Steele scored 10 unanswered points after Borneman’s takedown in the first period gave him a 2-0 lead.
“Today, he just turned it on,” San Pasqual coach Mark Surdyka said.
“Borneman, very good defense, very good at everything,” Steele said. “My best strength is takedowns; I was going to get him on the takedown game.”
Steele narrowly escaped an upset in the semifinals. Against Benson’s David Ens, Steele trailed by a point and picked up two in the final 10 seconds to win with an 11-10 decision.
“He seems to get those close wins,” Surdyka said. “When the going gets tough, Nick is right there to get the win.”
Steele’s state title coming in his freshman year does set up the potential for the rare four-time champion. The only wrestler in area history to do so was Antelope’s Aaron Simpson from 1990-93.
Steele has had that on the mind since before traveling to Prescott Valley. Surdyka has never had a freshman champ at San Pasqual, and while he won’t be as assertive about the prospect, he knows Steele has what it takes to win three more of these.
“It’s hard to look that far ahead, but he obviously has the talent to do it,” Surdyka said. “He’s something special.”
“For me, it’s a very big deal,” Steele said of potentially being a four-time champ. “I want to be the kid that’s known — ‘he’s a four-time state champ,’ ‘oh, he broke these records,’ ‘he did all that.’ I want to be known as the kid that did great.”