Lakeside Wrestlers Second In Region Tourney
Wrestlers in seven of the night’s first eight finals matches weren’t enough for Lakeside High School to unseat defending Region IV A-B champion Cashmere.
The Eagles had only one champion despite having more finalists than any other school.
“It’s very disappointing,” said Lakeside sophomore Anthony Layton, whose 11-7 win over Deer Park’s Don Forbes was the lone title for his team. “But again, this is the toughest region in state, I think.”
Layton won for the second straight time over Forbes, after losing to the senior during league. He scored six points in the second period, including a takedown and three-point near fall.
“After I wrestled him the first time I was not as overwhelmed,” said Layton. “I went out and gave him all my 122 pounds at district and tried to do it here again.”
With four champions in as many matches, Cashmere scored 164.5 points to Lakeside’s 143. The two schools easily out-distanced the rest of the field.
Included among Cashmere’s winners was 135-pounder Jay McGuffin who ran his record to 97-1 over three years with a first-round pin of Chewelah’s Cory McLaughlin.
Cashmere sends a tournamenthigh eight wrestlers to next weekend’s State A-B tournament in John Durheim’s final year as coach.
Four of them were in the consolation finals, including former state champion Dusty Lane who took fourth to teammate Justin Weedman.
Durheim, who graduated from Spokane’s West Valley High, has coached 18 years at Cashmere, the last 10 as head coach.
“It has gotten to the point where I can’t wrestle anyone over 129 pounds,” said Durheim. “A program can’t survive with that.”
Lakeside’s plight in the finals mirrored that of Northeast A-B competitors as a whole. Despite qualifying more wrestlers to state than District 6, 29 to 27, and sending 15 into the championship matches, local schools won only 3 of 14 weight-class finales.
The most thrilling was at 115 pounds where Almira/Coulee-Hartline’s Jason Ogle scored a takedown as time ran out to edge Lakeside’s Chris Padayao 11-10.
Another champion was Ritzville’s Andy Hilzer, who is 28-2 after a 4-2 win over Brad Duda of Quincy.
The top four wrestlers in each weight advanced to state. Lakeside is sending seven, Deer Park five, Chewelah three, and Ritzville, Davenport, Newport, Freeman, Medical Lake two each. Almira/CouleeHartline, Liberty, Selkirk, and Wilbur-Creston qualified one each.
, DataTimes