West Valley wrestling battles on as teammate battles cancer

In February, a high school wrestling room is a focused, intense place. Everyone in the room, from the freshmen whose season ended at the Spokaloo tournament at the end of January to the veteran seniors, is intent on three things: getting through the district tournament, getting through the regional tournament and booking a spot in Tacoma at the state tournament.

At West Valley, however, that intensity and focus was shattered when the Eagles leader, heavyweight Jace Malek, was diagnosed with cancer. Thinking about a wrestling tournament takes a backseat when your friend and teammates find out they’re facing an even bigger fight.

“We talked about it, and we talked about going forward and wrestling the way Jace would want us to wrestle,” West Valley coach Mike Bundy said. “It’s always tough to lose someone, but it’s tough for us not just because Jace is such a good wrestler, but because he’s the kind of leader who always, always has an upbeat attitude every day.

“I think we did OK. I didn’t see any drop off from anyone.”

The Eagles got five wrestlers into the championship round of last week’s Great Northern League district wrestling meet, with two of them winning their weight classification. Two more Eagles qualified for this week’s regional tournament by winning a consolation final.

A healthy Malek would have given the Eagles six finalists, but still only two district champions.

“Jace is the No. 1-ranked heavyweight in Class 2A,” Bundy said. “He represents a lot of points that we’re not going to have.”

Aleksey Dyfort stepped into the spot Malek would have occupied and won the district championship.

“Aleksey has been our JV heavyweight and he would have wrestled Jace in the final,” Bundy said. “Aleksey came out for wrestling as a freshman, but it was too intense for him. But he stuck with it.

“He’s turned himself into a very good heavyweight and I was sad that he had to wrestle on JV all year. He’s going to step in and do a very good job for us.”

West Valley’s other district champion, Hunter Ferguson, won a tough district final with East Valley’s Chance Blackburn, 4-2.

Blackburn heads into the regional tournament as the No. 4-ranked wrestler in the state; Ferguson is ranked No. 7.

Ferguson’s brother, Drake, was a finalist at 152, where he lost a 12-1 decision to national champion Trey Meyer. To get to the final, he had to beat East Valley’s Eli Hartshorn, the No. 7-ranked wrestler at that weight, who won the consolation final to reach this week’s regional tournament.

Cameron Connor reached the finals at 120, where he dropped a 4-2 decision to Randy McDonald, the No. 7-ranked wrestler in the state.

Quintin Stansbury was a finalist at 182 despite giving up more than a dozen pounds to his competition.

“Quintin is probably better suited to wrestle at 160, weight-wise,” Bundy said. “He’s strong, but he’s not as quick as some of his competition at the lower weight. He’s doing a fine job wrestling up.”

While preparing for this weekend’s regional, Bundy and the Eagles are raising money to help Malek with his looming medical expenses.

“I’ve been frankly amazed at how generous the wrestling community has been,” Bundy said. “I’ve seen what people have been giving to our effort – even anonymously.

“That’s one of the reasons I love this sport so much.”