Aa Wrestling: Frontier Pair Wins
A pair of Frontier League seniors with ties to their schools’ pasts won State AA Wrestling championships Saturday night.
Colville senior Jeremiah Divis took the Frontier League’s lone championship Saturday night in the AA State tournament at Mat Classic VIII.
“This is something I’ve had as a goal forever,” said Divis, his school’s first AA winner and second state champ ever. “It’s he best feeling in the world.”
Divis won a harrowing 4-2 victory over Lake Stevens’ Chad Tuohy at 129 pounds for Colville’s first championship in 27 years. He finished the year with a 32-1 record.
Clarkston’s Cory Thivierge, whose uncle, Robbie Berger, was one of two Bantams winners in 1989, shut out Brandon Nilson of Lake Stevens 7-0 for the other title. The two-time state freestyle champion was 34-3 for the season.
After completing his wrestling season with two wins and as many losses in the State A-B tournament last year, Dan Kruger thought his wrestling career had ended.
Today he is Riverside High School’s highest-placing State AA wrestler, finishing second at 158 pounds in the school’s first year at this classification.
“Last year, I said I wasn’t going to turn out because I was having personal problems,” the Rams senior said. “But I missed it too much. Wrestling is like that.”
He didn’t turn out until December, but was unbeaten in the Frontier League and placed third in Region IV. On Saturday, he pulled out a 6-5 semifinal victory but lost 10-4 in the finals.
Was he surprised by his showing?
“No,” he said. “My goal was to finish in the top three.”
Sophomore Tyson Thivierge, Cory’s brother, placed fourth at 158, and junior Mike Reyes placed sixth at 101 for Clarkston. The Bantams had 45.5 points to finish 10th.
Cheney’s Gabe Schaefer won four straight times Saturday, following his quarterfinal loss, to place third. Fourth went to East Valley’s Ben Wise, who lost in a semifinal Saturday.
Seventh-placers were West Valley 115-pound junior Quinn Sharpe, WV 129-pound senior Josh Ludwig and Riverside 168-pound senior Matt Morin.
, DataTimes