Kason Nichols rose to the occasion when it mattered most

Buchholz’ Kason Nichols gets his hand raised after winning the Class 3A 195-pound weight class at the FHSAA State Wrestling Tournament at Silver Spurs Arena back in March. (Brant Parsons/Kabra Wrestling)

BY BRANT PARSONS — For Buchholz’ Kason Nichols, knowing the state tournament was his last tournament, may have been his best weapon.

“I knew that I could just leave everything on the mat,” Nichols said. “I have a problem where sometimes I wouldn’t go all out and have like a mental block, but that week I didn’t.”

Nichols went all out at the FHSAA state wrestling tournament and walked away with a state title at 195 pounds in Class 3A. The Buchholz senior defeated previously unbeaten John Roberts 11-5 in the final.

“I guess my mentality was different and then the way I wrestled was a little different too,” Nichols said.

After beginning wrestling as a six-year-old, Nichols started to believe during his freshman year that he could be good at the sport.

“Looking back, I was terrible my freshman year but that was when I started to notice that I was kind of good buying space,” Nichols said.

By his junior year, he expected to at least find the podium at the state tournament, but after failing to place, knew something had to change.

“I didn’t wrestle my best and it hurt,” Nichols said. “I realized that I wasn’t doing enough. I thought I was but clearly, I wasn’t getting the results that I wanted so I started to work harder and stay after practice and work on more things.”

His win was the second of the night for Buchholz after Cavarius Liddie won a title at 132 pounds.

Nichols hopes they’ve started a trend.

“I’m glad that I could have some influence on my high school and our team and maybe more will take it seriously and realize they have a shot of doing something,” Nichols said.

Just like he did.

Kason Nichols celebrates his state title win with the Buchholz coaching staff. (Brant Parsons/Kabra Wrestling)

STATE CHAMPION FEATURES

Kabra Wrestling is looking to feature as many state champions as we can over the next few months and tell a little story about what makes them special.

If you won a state championship and would like to be featured, please contact Kabra Wrestling to set up an interview.

2023 State Champions

3A-106: Andrew Punzalan (Cypress Bay)

3A-113: Tyler Washburn (Palmetto Ridge)

3A-120: Luis Acevedo (South Dade)

3A-126: Ethan Vugman (Bartram Trail)

3A-132: Cavarius Liddie (Buchholz)

3A-138: Elvis Solis (South Dade)

3A-145: Anderson Heap (Kissimmee Osceola)

3A-152: Cooper Haase (Kissimmee Osceola)

3A-160: Adrian Ochoa (Southwest Miami)

3A-170: Lawrence Rosario (South Dade)