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By René Ferrán | Photos by Taylor Balkom  

One of the most anticipated 6A wrestling finals Sunday at Sandy High School turned out to be one of the most anticlimactic. 

A couple of two-time state champions — Roseburg senior Nash Singleton and Newberg senior Nicky Olmstead — took the mat in the 132-pound final for a long-awaited matchup of two of the state’s best. 

Two years ago, they were slated to wrestle in the semifinals before Olmstead dropped out of the meet battling a severe flu. They finally met for the first time a month ago in the Reser’s Tournament of Champions semifinals, with Singleton holding on for a 5-3 win that left a bad taste in his mouth.

“It shouldn’t have been a close one the last time,” said Singleton, who led 5-0 after two rounds. “It was dumb that it ended up that way.”

He left nothing to chance in Sunday’s rematch. He took Olmstead down a minute into the match, then turned him just before the round ended to record his fifth first-round pin of the tournament.

“I had a little bit of nerves coming into the weekend, but once I realized it was just another tournament, they were all gone,” said Singleton, who finished his career 129-14, with only an overtime loss to Newberg’s Ayden Graver in the 113-pound final his freshman year denying him four-timer status before heading to Oregon State.

“It’s pretty cool, a pretty big deal. Not everybody gets to end on a win. Look at Nicky. He didn’t get to end on a win, and he was going for being a three-timer, too. It’s kind of rough when you don’t end on a win, so it’s a big deal to win the third one and come out on top.” 

Oregon 6A wrestling state tournament: Meet the champions, placewinners, top teams

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