CV Puts Nine Wrestlers In State Tournament Giampietri, Bears Trounce Mead To Set School Record, Win Region

Central Valley advanced a school-record nine wrestlers to the State AAA high school tournament and won its first Region IV championship Tuesday.

Led by senior 158-pound champion Rick Giampietri, the Bears easily beat Greater Spokane League rival Mead 140.5 to 110. Mead advanced seven to Friday’s Mat Classic VIII in the Tacoma Dome. Flooding had forced postponement of the regional tournament, originally scheduled for last Friday and Saturday.

CV finished third during the regular season but has two postseason tourney wins. “We had a real tough second round today but we bounced back with a great third round,” CV coach Dale Ethridge said.

In the loser-out, winner-to-state third-round matches, the Bears won seven of eight to clinch the championship. Big Nine teams dominated the finals, but the GSL had more depth and won the state berth race, 32-24. Giampietri, Lewis and Clark junior Brian Lehrman (101 pounds), University junior Andy Roberts (129), U-Hi senior Jeff Schmedding (215) and North Central’s Nic Oord (275) were the only GSL champs.

Lehrman’s 9-3 decision over Kennewick’s Juan Villa in the final was his closest match of the tournament. Roberts, the 1994 state champion as a freshman, missed last year’s postseason with an injury. He had an outstanding tournament with a semifinal win over two-time state placer Eli Zamora of Moses Lake and an 18-7 win over Wenatchee’s Ramon Iginuez in the final.

Giampietri muscled past Pasco’s Chad Bodnar in the 158 final and Schmedding needed an escape with 5 seconds left in the second overtime to defeat Roger Dampier of Davis 2-1.