At midpoint, EV, U-Hi wrestlers nearing titles

East Valley and University took major steps toward divisional titles as Greater Spokane League wrestling reached its season’s midpoint.

With the Knights 45-15 win over Central Valley and the Titans’ 54-16 win over Gonzaga Prep, both are 3-0. U-Hi is the only unbeaten team remaining in the National Division of the GSL entering the holiday break.

EV jumped to a 27-0 lead over CV (2-1) in Thursday night’s first five matches and won 10 of 14 overall, but it was one of those four losses that caught coach Craig Hanson‘s eye.

Junior Eric Eagleburger wrestled Garrett McCoy to a virtual standoff at 119 pounds before losing 6-4. He took a 4-3 lead on a three-point near fall with 30 seconds to go. McCoy escaped and won with a takedown that just beat the final buzzer.

“Eagleburger wrestled an incredible match,” said Hanson. “I thought it was great effort on his part. He just made weight and (Wednesday) night it hit him a bit. But boy he just wrestled steady and I was really impressed on how he did.”

The match hinged on the weights between 160 and 275 pounds, all won by the Knights, and on five pins, four of which came in the third period after CV wrestlers, sophomore Nick Severns (171 pounds) and freshman Tyler Cochran (275) in particular, hung tough against EV seniors.

There were several other close contests. EV’s Matt Keller (125) outlasted sophomore Jeremy Savage 14-10, each scoring six points in the final round. Knight Matt Hanson (135) led only 4-3 entering the third round of his 8-3 win over CV sophomore Jeff Croskrey. Brice Parker (140) got third-period reversal and takedown points to pull away from CV senior Geoff Palachuk and Bryce Fisher (145), trailing 8-4 in the third period, got an escape, then a takedown with three seconds remaining for a 10-9 win over another Bears senior, Joe Alderman.

“That’s always disheartening,” said CV coach John Owen. “But give EV credit, they match up well against us.”

U-Hi wrestled about half its starting lineup in the win over Gonzaga Prep. But with backups August Pope, Billy McGlasson, Dono Totten and Joe Cox accounting for 19 points in the weights between 171 and 275, the Titans breezed.

Final major divisional tests for the two schools will come when East Valley hosts Mead and University hosts North Central on Jan. 12.

Llew’s crews

Current and former girls cross country runners of retiring University coach Steve Llewellyn are planning a Dec. 27 gathering in his honor.

Llewellyn, who left a law practice in Walla Walla to become a teacher and coach, has spent the past 21 years at U-Hi. His teams and individual runners won numerous league championships and state trophies, including the 1992 cross country team title.

The day will include a three-mile “Llew’s Loop” fun run at U-Hi at 3 p.m. followed at 4:30 by a spaghetti dinner at the school. A program will follow.

Runners are being asked to prepare a page for a scrapbook to include photos and the years they ran, and to donate new or “gently used” running shoes or spikes to equip future runners.

For information, contact Marian Fuchs at 927-7202

Lancers make it 14 straight

On the surface, it appeared if there were a year that Mountain View’s long championship wrestling streak was in jeopardy, this was it.

Both the Lancers’ and Bowdish’s dual scores against other league teams were comparable. In head-to-head championship matches at last week’s Spokane Valley Middle School All-League tournament, the Rockets had a 3-to-1 win advantage.

But it was all a tease. Mountain View beat the Rockets handily, 69-23, in their dual match and capped its 14th straight unbeaten season for coach Dave Smith by scoring 286.5 points, to Bowdish’s 236 in the all-league meet.

The Lancers are now 131-8 over the past 21 years. They had 12 finalists and a total of 14 top-four finishers in 18 weight classes during the all-league tournament, seven of them champions.

Dakota Lawson, second at 110 pounds a year earlier, captured the 130-pound title.

Keith Babington and Thomas Tran started them on the right foot at 75 and 80 pounds, the first two weight classes. Jacob Rodriguiz (100) over Bowdish’s David Borgman, Beaux Dodd (115), Jake Pugsley (142) and Parker Pierce (heavyweight) were Mountain View’s other champions.

Bowdish also had 14 placers, eight of them finalists and six won championships. Casey Olson became a two-time titlist, winning 95 pounds over Mountain View’s Kyle Kilham. Kevin Harder (120) over Nick Bellomy and Jake Mason (135) over Josh Mercer also beat Mountain View wrestlers. It was Mercer’s second straight runner-up finish.

Gabe Duncan, (90) who beat East Valley defending champ Adam Szember 15-0, and John Nelson (150) and John Wright (172) were other Rocket champs.

Evergreen had two titlists, Trevor Delmedico (85) and Tyler Simmet (125).

Ryan Zumwalt (105) from Horizon, Ryan Parsley (110) from Centennial and Andrew Wickstrom (160) from Greenacres were other champions.

East Valley had 13 placers, three of them finishing second. Horizon had 10 with two finalists, Greenacres nine and Evergreen eight with four finalists each. And Centennial had six placers, three of them in the finals, including Michael White, second for the second straight year.