Mountain View’s Aiden Nelmes celebrates after winning the 106-pound weight class at the 2024 OSAA State Wrestling Championships on Feb. 25, 2024, in Portland.

REDMOND — Wrestlers don’t often get compared to basketball players, but Mountain View coach Chad Rhoades compares his star wrestler to a star NBA player.

Aiden Nelmes is Steph Curry.

“He has ice in his veins,” said the first-year Cougars coach. “Because he has a calm mindset, he is able to be grounded and realize what he needs to do to grow. He doesn’t let the noise on the outside influence who he is as a wrestler.”

Look no further for even-keeled disposition on the mat than last year’s state meet. When facing an opponent that had gotten the better of him in three out of four matches during the season, Nelmes was not intimidated and instead rose to the occasion.

Nelmes won by a 9-7 decision over Thurston’s Michael Salas Sanchez to claim the 106-pound Class 5A state title. With that win, Nelmes, a junior, is now on track to be a three-time state champion.

“I learned that all that hard work paid off,” Nelmes said. “I had to beat a guy who had beaten me three times before. All my hard work paid off in the end.”

Ask any wrestler on the path to repeating as a state champion — the pressure is palpable. They can hear the chatter around them at tournaments and know their opponents would like nothing more than to take down a champion.

And Nelmes, now wrestling primarily in the 120- and 132-pound weight classes this season, is no different.

“Everyone knows you are good and are gunning for that top spot,” Nelmes said. “You have to be able to back it up. I know people are coming for me. I know they are working hard so I have to work even harder.”

“It could be negative in the sense that you have the hubris where you think you are on top of the world,” Rhoades said. “But Aiden does a really good job at just staying grounded naturally.”

Thus far this season, Nelmes has backed it up. He’s won titles at the Adrian Irwin Tournament, the Rose City Championships, and he won 11 of 12 matches at the Northwest Duals and lost only once at the Oregon Classic.

Not counting byes in tournaments, he’s won 36 of his 43 matches this season.

“He’s improved every aspect of his game,” Rhoades said. “He’s just hungry and it shows. When he’s in the wrestling room it shows, and when he’s on the mat it shows.”

The feather in his cap this season is not a tournament win, but a second-place finish at the state’s toughest tournament — the Reser’s Tournament of Champions in Sherwood last weekend. Last year he took fourth in the tournament.

“My confidence kept getting higher beating all these tough guys,” Nelmes said. “Beating all these tough opponents. I was kind of expecting to make it that far, but there were some tough matches.

“Everything is going good,” Nelmes added. “But I have to keep going. I have one more month left to try and end up on top again.”