HOLIDAY CLASSIC: Palo Verde’s Judd on mission to win

If Cole Judd had a reality series inspired by his life, the show could easily be titled: "The Mission."

From wrestling, to school, to his faith, the Palo Verde senior has his life planned out, and he has no plans of letting anyone get in his path.

"A moment of pain is better than a lifetime of regret," Judd said. "You learn to push yourself, and get through anything. I've applied that to life as my motto."

Judd, who opened the prestigious Las Vegas Holiday Classic at the Las Vegas Convention Center 3-0 on Friday, has plenty of motivation for this season's mission, which is to return to the Sunset Region tournament, which he missed last season after being ruled out medically because of a skin irritation.

As a freshman he didn't qualify for regionals. He took second his sophomore season, but didn't place at state.

Last year, he was considered one of the favorites to win at both levels.

"Everything I worked for went down the drain," Judd said. "Once you get it taken away from you, it just pushes you harder to want to win it, especially this year being it's my last year."

Palo Verde coach Scott Nemechek said the occurrence strengthened both him and Judd, as he learned a valuable lesson from one of his top grapplers.

"He's helped me understand it's not always the result, it's the journey; especially with what happened last year," Nemechek said. "I think all of us were more upset about it than he was. He understood what had happened and he said 'Coach, just relax, I'm going to come back next year, work real hard and get my state title.'"

Nemechek and his staff aren't the only ones who have benefited from Judd's presence in the wrestling room, as there are younger wrestlers who now look up to him, and not just because of his skill.

"I've always had sisters, never had a brother," sophomore Jonathan Carpenter said. "Wrestling is a big family, so I can always look up to him as a guy that's there for me. He's always been that bigger guy than me, but he's always been my partner. When we wrestle, he'll beat me down, but he's also there to teach me, so he'll let me know where I made mistakes but help me correct them."

Sitting in the quarterfinals heading into the final day of the Holiday Classic, which begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Judd is three wins from winning the 220-pound division.

"You don't realize how blessed you are when you're younger, but when I look back, I'll know wrestling has shown me how blessed I am," Judd said.

NOTES — Liberty (Ariz.) leads the tournament after the first day with 127½ points. Beaver (Utah) is second at 116, followed by Curtis (Wash.) with 114.

Cimarron-Memorial is the top local team. The Spartans are seventh with 105. Shadow Ridge is 15th with 74, and Palo Verde is 16th with 70.