Pinning State Central Valley Beats The Odds To Claim State Wrestling Title By Slimmest Of Margins CV Bears Bring Home Crown

Lump together every inspirational sports movie or book whose ending captures the imagination and you have the script for Central Valley’s state 4A wrestling championship.

Simply stated, the Bears’ one-point victory over defending state champion Evergreen of Vancouver on Saturday was an article of faith.

“We needed this to happen, this to happen, and this to happen and it was kind of like it all fell into place,” said 129-pound state champion Shane Cunanan.

It took major 8-point decisions in the finals by Cunanan and teammate John Reese to produce enough extra points for the win. Reese, who won at 122 pounds, wasn’t even a shoo-in for the crown.

The fact that two CV teammates, Courtney Brown and Blair Alderman, wrestled each other for third and fourth places, added two extra team points to the Bears’ total.

Most improbable of all was the fact that a wrestler who had competed in only four varsity matches during the regular season and had a 10-8 record, including tournaments, was instrumental in securing CV’s team title.

Mike Easton, more noted for having scored 1,510 on his SAT than wrestling, came up from the junior varsity to finish sixth in state.

“For the first time,” said Easton, still walking on cloud nine, “I was considered a wrestler who was a smart kid and not a smart kid who wrestled.”

Easton wrestled behind Brown and a couple others at 158 pounds, relegating him to jayvee status until Brown tired of cutting 15 pounds of weight each week.

“It was too hard,” said Brown, “I felt better at 168 and thought the top four in our district would go to state.”

That left room for Easton at district, where he finished a surprising second. During regionals it took a takedown in the final seconds of a match to even get to state.

“I tried a move I’ve never tried in my life, a lateral drop, and the ref signaled the takedown as time ran out,” said Easton.

Once in Tacoma, Easton drew Evergreen state placer Brad Alberts, who relegated him to the losers’ bracket.

Alberts would ultimately figure in the team outcome by losing the 158-pound finale against a guy he lost to by a pin a week earlier, assuring CV’s one-point triumph.

Easton would win three straight times to secure his place in CV’s state championship story.

“It was totally unexpected, a thrill,” said Easton. “This was my opportunity for myself and the team. It seems unreal.”

That describes Central Valley’s state wrestling title, only the fourth by a Greater Spokane League school.

Two years ago, the Bears finished second at state by a mere four points after one of their wrestlers lost in a controversial semifinal.

This year the team went in as a contender, but with no real assurances of a title.

“I figured we would be in the top four,” said CV coach Dale Ethridge. “Everything else was hope.”

Evergreen with 10 entrants and Tahoma, with 11, had the numbers. CV had seven state entires, prompting, a T-shirt slogan that read, “We few, we happy few,” borrowed from Shakespeare’s Henry V, said Ethridge, also a literature and poetry instructor.

On Friday, things didn’t go particularly well when two of CV’s top contenders, Brandon Bouge and Brandon Brown, won once and lost twice to be out of the tournament.

Nonetheless, Ethridge reminded the discouraged pair, they had combined for three points that counted mightily in the end.

Meanwhile, Reese and Cunanan reached the finals, the latter by pins and a major decision that meant five more precious points. Alderman, a junior, and Brown, a senior, lost in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively, but won their way to a rematch of their district semifinal meeting two weeks earlier.

Alderman’s foe prior to the consolation finals injury defaulted with 15 seconds remaining. Two more team points.

To prevent a wrestler from taking a dive to enhance a team’s chances, pin points are built into such a match between teammates.

Brown, who lost to Alderman in their previous meeting, won 3-1, and also got those two additional points.

“We wrestle each other a lot in the room and know each other’s stuff,” said Brown. “It was my last match so I wrestled for five minutes as hard as I could. It was a nice way to end my career.”

That night it was left up to Reese, who had lost two of three meetings to his foe, and Cunanan to not only win, but win big.

“It was just like Tri-State where I told Shane beforehand we needed a major decision to take third by one-half point over Tahoma,” said Ethridge. “Before the finals I told both John and Shane not to risk their titles, but get the major if they were in a position to do so.”

Reese got a takedown and three-point near fall over Ferris’s Ryan Ellis for his with 20 seconds left. Cunanan got his on a takedown with 30 seconds to go.

When Alberts lost, the celebrating among CV wrestlers and coaches sitting in the stands began.

“I almost wanted his opponent to win more than myself,” recalled Cunanan. “To be state champion was my goal since last year. To win a team state title on top of that is icing.”

Ethridge takes little credit for his team’s successes over the past three years.

CV has won a district championship and been second twice, won two regional titles and been second and first in state.

Accolades belong, instead, to assistants. Paul Danelo and Rick Giampietri, both former CV head coaches, brought a wealth of technique, decorum and mat strategy knowledge to the program. Don Koellen, a former CV state champion who predicted the team title, and a host of volunteer assistants all shared their collegiate experiences.

“I stay out of the way,” Ethridge said. “I’m smart enough not to try and do everything.”

One thing he did do was gather the wrestlers together and tell them to smile.

“Sometimes they forget this is supposed to be fun,” said Ethridge.

From there, he let the chips fall where they may. The result was an ending found only in a movie or storybook.

“It’s the most humbling experience in the world,” said Ethridge. “So many things have to take place, so many variables. This is just special.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 photos (1 color)