Shawn Gust Lake City Year: Senior Sport: Wrestling Position: 135-140 Pounds

Bowling between Saturday’s semifinals and finals of the Clearwater Classic wrestling tournament in Lewiston helped relax Lake City senior Shawn Gust.

Gust rolled a 162 game with his mother, then returned for his 135-pound final with top-seeded Jason Benner of Lewiston. Gust led 2-1 after two periods, then turned it on for an 8-3 decision.

“He’s pretty solid,” Gust said of Benner. “I just had to go out there with my mean attitude I get when I psyche up. The first two periods I was riding him, that’s my weakest area. I can ride them, but I can’t turn them. I worked in the third period. Actually, the last couple of weeks I’m just getting in shape.”

Gust came into wrestling after playing free safety on the 0-9 Timberwolves football team, and is one of just three seniors on the 0-8 Lake City wrestling team.

“We got a lot better during the (football) season,” Gust said. “That we’re new, that’s not really that good of excuse, but most of it is we’re so young and inexperienced.

“When I’m working some of these guys, I’ll coach them,” the 18-year-old added. “You can know the technique, but when you’re actually wrestling against somebody you can’t do it. You go out there so excited you’re not under control.”

And Timberwolves coach Pat Whitcomb welcomes that help: “He’s just a real aggressive kid. He finds a way to win; that’s what we need the rest of the kids to do.”

Gust, 13-2 overall and a 3.7 student, started to wrestle as a seventh grader, and he qualified for the State A-1 tournament last year for Coeur d’Alene High.