By Kyle Klingman

Troy Nickerson, Cornell University’s 125-pounder, lives with pain. And it was overcoming that pain that drove Nickerson to his first NCAA title after three years of nearly reaching the top.

            The Chenango Forks, N.Y., native entered his fourth year of college with a list of health problems behind him. After placing third as a true freshman in 2006 and third as a sophomore in 2007, Nickerson took last season off due to injuries.

            And even this year Nickerson faced serious medical issues. His shoulder — which kept him out last season and gave him problems all season long — popped out twice in the finals.

            Then there is an ongoing knee injury. That has been bothering him all season too. 

            Through it all, Cornell head coach Rob Koll had a simple strategy for the lightest wrestler on his team: Don’t show pain.

            “It was definitely a difficult process,” said Nickerson. “I struggled this entire year with the same injury. There was a time this year when I was out of the line-up when me and Coach Koll had a deep conversation — a real heart-to-heart — about whether I should even be wrestling and whether I should be in there competing at all. I was definitely nervous and scared and excited all at the same time.

            “I decided I wanted to come back. No matter how I did I wanted to help the team. We had a chance to do something special this year. Unfortunately we fell a little short. Now, all the struggling, all the pain of going through practice, all the agony of wrestling in pain for three straight months, it was definitely worth it.”

            Nickerson, seeded second, had a championship run that included two pins, a major decision and wins over the previous two NCAA champions in the weight class. The Cornell junior defeated 2008 titlist Angel Escobedo of Indiana 2-1 in the semifinals and 2007 champion Paul Donahoe of Edinboro 2-1 in the tiebreaker period for his championship win.

            The win over the top-seeded Donahoe avenged a 2-1 tiebreaker loss in the semifinals of the 2007 NCAA tournament. Donahoe was a sophomore competing for Nebraska at the time.

            “I really wanted it to be a fast-paced, a lot of scoring type of match,” said Nickerson. “I was telling my coaches as I walked off that I really didn’t wrestle that well. Fortunately I was able to pull off the win. I would have liked to get a takedown or two.”

            Ultimately, though, winning in the finals was about one person: Troy Nickerson’s dad.

            Bob Nickerson has been battling cancer all year, but he wanted to be at the NCAA tournament to support his son. And, thanks to the generosity of some people close to the Cornell program, Bob was able to get a special flight to the tournament so the trip to St. Louis would be less burdensome.

            “Very few people knew about this and we didn’t play up on it, obviously, for privacy issues,” said Koll. “There’s no reason it should affect (Troy’s) performance, but it does affect his performance.”

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