CV wrestlers work as a team
A wrestler’s journey to the Tacoma Dome looks like a solitary journey. They claw their way along, one match at a time through a league season, through weekend tournaments that involve long bus rides, through district tournaments and then regional tournaments.
And, it seems, the farther you go in the sport, the margin for error gets narrower and narrower. By the time the state tournament rolls around, it’s razor-thin.
There’s a coach in one corner during a match, shouting encouragement and direction. But in the end, it’s the wrestler in the middle of the mat, frequently beneath a spotlight in a darkened gym, alone against an equally determined opponent. And in the end, a referee raises just one hand in victory.
But looks can be deceiving.
Wrestling is very much a team sport. When a wrestler walks on the mat, he carries the hopes and dreams of his team on his shoulders. Holding up his end for those teammates is as much or more of a driver for them as any personal dream or aspiration.
“Oh, totally,” Central Valley 145-pounder Braedon Orrino agreed. “You have everyone on the whole team watching on you and depending on you. You want to do what’s best for the team.”
Especially this year and with this Central Valley wrestling squad under first-year head coach Shaun Williams, who won three straight Oregon state championships at Hermiston.
The Bears are on a roll, winning a Greater Spokane League team title, sharing first place at districts with Mead. The Bears had six champions – Bryce Gardner (120), Bryson Beard (126), Bridger Beard (132), Gage Connole (138), Orrino (145) and Zach Stratton (160).
CV rolls into this weekend’s regional tournament at University High with a dozen wrestlers looking to earn their way into a state tournament berth.
The Bears are in the hunt for their second state championship (winning the first in 1997-98). No less an observer than U-Hi coach Don Owen, who has led the Titans to three state titles in the past dozen years, calls them the favorites to win a state title.
“It’s great to get that kind of respect,” Orrino said of the U-Hi endorsement. “But you still don’t get that kind of respect from the teams on the West Side of the state.”
Of course, Eastern Washington teams NEVER get that kind of respect from teams on the West Side.
“Well, yeah,” the junior laughs. “That kind of helps motivate us.”
Both the Bears and Orrino have plenty of motivation.
For Orrino, it’s having made it to the state tournament twice already with nothing to show for it but the experience.
“In my case, I guess you’d have to say that I choked,” he said.
It’s an overly harsh self-assessment, but a typical one for a wrestler looking to draw on his past performance as motivation toward a better result.
In the wrestling room this week, the intensity is thick and the workouts are long and hard.
“Our coach tells everyone that if they can’t stick with the team all the way to the end, then they can’t be part of the state championship team,” Orrino said. “The two hours we’re in there are so intense it makes you not even want to crack a smile.”
With a potential state championship on the line, Williams has a straightforward set of tactics for his wrestlers to follow.
“He keeps telling us to go for the extra points,” Orrino said. “You want make sure you have the win, but he’s telling us to go for the major decision, go for the pin. Every team point is important.”
But there’s another motivator that is just as important for Orrino.
His older brother, Colton, was a two-time state champion.
The same way that people talked last week about Peyton Manning not wanting to end his career without a second Super Bowl ring because his younger brother Eli owns two goes for Braedon.
Family dinners in the future will go much more smoothly for the junior if he can match his brother’s two state titles.
“You got that right,” he said.