COLUMBIA –Christian Noble felt his third-place match slipping away.
The Lift for Life senior yielded five points to Trenton freshman Jacob White during the latter stages of his 106-pound, third-place match and watched his sizable lead disappear Thursday during the MSHSAA Wrestling Championships at Mizzou Arena.
The memory of his late brother re-energized him.
“Over the summer I lost my brother to a rare cancer, and in the back of my mind, all I could think was, ‘I can’t let him down, I can’t let him down,’” Noble said. “That gave me the extra, second wind to push through and win.”
Noble pulled out a 9-7 victory, and moments later, teammate Ethan Doss won a thrilling third-place match at 132-pounds on an adjacent mat, as the two became the highest state-placers in Lift for Life program history.
Senior Braxton Sneed (190) also earned a sixth-place medal for the Hawks.
“We’ve had a fourth and a sixth in the past, but this is by far our best performance at the state tournament,” Lift for Life coach Andrew Angelbeck said.
Noble pinned Trenton freshman Jacob White in 48 seconds during the quarterfinal round, and when the two met again for third place, Noble quickly went on the offensive. He built a 5-0 lead in points before White made his move, tying the score 5-5 early in the third.
“I got a little sloppy towards the end of the second (period) and it got pretty choppy, but in the third, I picked it up and finished strong,” Noble said.
Noble has a clothing brand called ‘2 Different,’ and he held his first fashion show on Dec. 2 in honor of his brother, Keith Harris. It was the memory of Harris and a trust in his preparation that helped Noble reach the finish line Friday.
“I’m an outgoing person and I’ve always had confidence in myself. I don’t doubt myself when I get on that mat. I think I can beat anybody, it doesn’t matter the (seed) or what the record is,” Noble said.
Noble, who is planning to major in business administration in college, is a member of National Honor Society and Activate St. Louis – an organization that advocates for change in the community.
“Anything that’s active, I’m in it,” Noble said.
He credits the Lift for Life wrestling program for steering him on a path to success.
“It’s Coach (Angelbeck). He kept me from so many situations when I wasn’t always the best kid growing up. Once he gave me that love, I tried to distribute the love throughout the team and now we’re just a big family,” Noble said.
A newcomer this year to that family is Doss, a Lift for Life sophomore who did not wrestle for the team during his freshman year.
Doss lost a tough, 4-1 decision in the quarterfinal round to Lone Jack senior Robbie Lasky. He had to rebound quickly to win his wrestleback match that same night in order to stay in medal contention.
“It wasn’t hard to recover from. I took my loss like a man,” Doss said.
Doss won three successive matches before meeting Lasky again in the 132-pound, third-place match. Enjoying a 5-0 lead after two periods, Doss suddenly found himself on his back with a pin appearing imminent early in the third.
Somehow, Doss slithered free.
“I was cruising and then stuff happens. I got rolled over on my back and gave up some points,” Doss said. “Wrestling is really mental, and as I long as I go out and manifest that, I feel like I can win.”
After a penalty point awarded to Doss tied the match at 7, Doss earned an escape just before time expired to capture the third-place medal.
“It would have been real easy for him to say, ‘He beat me once, what’s another one?’ but to fight off your back in a dead-to-rights situation shows grit, dedication and commitment to the craft,” Angelbeck said.
Doss (32-4) wrestled with a broken left wrist discovered recently by an X-ray. He wore a soft cast during down time and heavily taped it for his matches.
It was a symbol of the grit displayed by Doss, Noble and the other Lift for Life wrestlers, who along with Sneed (190), Damonte Holmes (175) and Korey Phillips (285), went 13-8 during the state tournament.
“We’re just a small school in the middle of Soulard. For spring training, we run to the Arch and Busch Stadium. We’re just really trying to build wrestling up in the city of St. Louis and get us to a level where we’re out here competing with the best teams in the state, which is what we did this weekend,” Angelbeck said.
