Rams Charge Strongly Into Aa Competition
Making the move from Class A to AA has proved little problem for Riverside High School.
The Rams had two placers in their first State AA Wrestling Tournament.
The boys and girls basketball teams finished second in the Frontier League.
Last December Dan Kruger reconsidered his decision not to turn out for wrestling and today is a State AA runner-up at 158 pounds. Teammate Mat Morin was seventh at 168 pounds.
Their success didn’t surprise coach Randy Miller.
“The Northeast A League is very tough, and we got our taste of AA last week in regionals,” he said. “I felt we were in the state tournament with the Mid-Valley League. It has a lot of talent.”
Miller used a velvet touch to persuade Kruger to come back out after the senior had decided to give up wrestling.
“He’s the type of kid you don’t want to push too hard,” Miller said. “But I had full confidence he could be in the state finals, and I told him that all year long.”
Morin lost his first match, then won three of his next four to medal.
“We came with two and wanted them to bring home hardware,” said Miller. “We got it done. Getting Kruger in the finals was icing on the cake.”
Both Riverside basketball teams were 8-4 in their inaugural Frontier seasons. The boys, 14-6 overall, play Cheney Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Eastern Washington University in the first round of district playoffs.
The girls, 13-7 overall, play at 4 p.m. against Pullman, also at EWU.
Other state wrestling placers
North Side wrestlers from three other schools also earned medals at their respective state tournaments.
Included was Shaun McMackin of Rogers, who finished fourth at 168 pounds. McMackin wrestled the first half of the year at 190 and actually had greater success than at his tournament weight.
Things came around in three end-of-season tournaments where he was 11-4.
He went 4-1 at district and 3-1 after losing his first match at regional to place third twice.
Following a first-round loss at Mat Classic VIII to runner-up Brandon Christensen of Mukilteo’s Kamiak High, McMackin won four times to make the consolation finals before losing again.
Placing fifth were a pair of Deer Park wrestlers.
Don Forbes reversed earlier losses to Lakeside’s Anthony Layton to do so. Forbes reached the A-B 122-pound semifinals before losing to Selkirk’s J.L. Chantrey.
Dana Nelson, who lost in the quarterfinals to champion Abe Enaena of Willapa Valley, also took fifth.
Their teammate Clint Umbach, in his fourth state appearance, placed for the third time, taking sixth.
This year the number of medalists increased from six to eight.
Two who benefitted were McMackin’s Pirate senior teammate James Dawe, eighth at 135, and North Central sophomore 190-pounder David Sandberg, who finished seventh.
District basketball goes forward
Boys and girls basketball teams from Mead, Shadle Park, Lakeside and Deer Park all reached post-season play.
The Panther girls, already qualified for regional by virtue of their Greater Spokane League championship, play tonight in the Arena at 7:30 against Shadle Park, which advanced to the regional with a win on Tuesday.
Mead’s boys play Central Valley at 5:30 p.m. after ending Shadle’s season.
The Highlanders had beaten Ferris on Thursday and University on Saturday to earn the sixth-place district spot.
Lakeside’s girls are in the finals of the Northeast A District and a win away from state. They play Newport on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Mead High School. Deer Park is in a loser-out contest against Colfax at 3:15 p.m.
The Eagle boys play Medical Lake at 4:45 p.m. in a loser-out game.
Survivors play on Saturday.
, DataTimes