Matches Up For Grabs At Wrestling Tourney
The real world of high school wrestling is no fairy tale.
Lakeside High School repeated this year as regional champion and has 10 wrestlers competing this weekend in Mat Classic IX at the Tacoma Dome, yet coach Scott Jones is unsated.
One of his best wrestlers did not qualify and another, because of a poor regional effort, faces a twotime state champ in his opening match.
The team championship is also up for grabs because schools in other regions suffered similar fates.
“That’s the beast of the sport and also the beauty of it,” said Jones drawing on his best storybook analogy. “We have the most guys we’ve ever qualified and really feel like we’re underdogs now.”
Still, as proven at regionals, where wrestlers square off one-on-one, anyone has a chance of winning.
Last weekend, for instance, sophomore Adam Christen had a beauty of a tournament to win at 129 pounds. State placer Anthony Layton’s was beastly and he wound up fourth.
Both are on the same side of the state bracket, Layton paired against two-time champion Dwayne Magnusson of Blaine.
State veteran Jason Belyea was beaten at 108 pounds is only an alternate to state.
“One moment you’re in total ecstacy,” said Jones. “Less than five minutes later one of the best wrestlers on the team doesn’t qualify. It’s the ultimate low.”
For Lakeside to contend, said Jones, the team will need repeat performances from state placers Trevor Blackwell, 115, Matt Westenfelder and Aaron Laughery, both 148, Nate Bohl, 141 and Layton.
First-timers like Christen, Tim Weisser, 122, Jason Christen, 135, Sean Wheeler, 158, and Randy Brownell, 215, he said must score.
“If first-time competitors come up and returning placers hold their own,” he said, “then we’re back in the hunt.”
Deer Park has four state entrants: Jeb Race, 148 pounds, Nolan Jones, 148, and brothers Heath, 168, and Jarred Berger, 178, from among the 27 Northeast A/B district qualifiers.
GSL wrestlers on to state
The end result wasn’t what coaches and athletes had in mind when just seven North Side Greater Spokane League wrestlers qualified for state.
Mat Classic IX AAA tournament rounds will begin and end with Mead wrestlers. Mark Denholm was 101-pound runnerup. Regional champion Joe Collier and teammate Art Avalon wrestle at 275 pounds.
Rogers, which sent seven wrestlers into the semifinals at region, got only two qualifiers: 158-pound champion Ryan Anstrom and 141-pound third-placer Daryn Steeneck.
“We didn’t wrestle poor, we just didn’t get wins,” said coach Walt Arnold. “We rode a heckuva roller coaster for two days.”
North Central’s David Sandberg was upset in the 190-pound semifinal and finished third. But teammate Brian Thatcher reversed a district loss to win regional at 168 pounds.
Academic casualties, defections and injuries hurt several GSL schools during this star-crossed season, Mead and NC among them.
Like Rogers, both experienced additional regional disappointment.
Panther Jon Rugan’s career ended unfulfilled.
Second at 108 and 115 pounds as a sophomore and junior, this year he struggled and missed a third straight state trip.
Rogers’ Daryl Groom, sixth in state as a freshman, always found himself in impossibly tough weight classes and never returned.
This year he lost to a pair of twotime state placers while finishing sixth in region.
NC’s Brian Burrow lost by a point in a disputed semifinal and ultimately settled on an alternate’s spot to state.
Gymnastics state qualifiers
Mead and North Central have combined to send five gymnastics to this weekend’s state meet in Tacoma.
The Panthers’ Heather Salo qualified on vault and bars, Marki Stewart on vault and floor exercise and Kelly Herron on floor exercise.
NC’s Heidi McCullough goes on bars and Shelly Betts on beam.
District basketball upcoming
Greater Spokane League schools complete their league basketball season tonight with an eye on district.
Tonight’s games can have an impact on the pairings.
Mead’s boys will finish either fourth or fifth in the GSL depending upon the outcome of today’s 8 p.m. game at home against Rogers.
Rogers is not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but would need a win tonight and a Lewis and Clark upset win over Gonzaga.
Rogers girls moved into fifth place Tuesday night and can avoid Gonzaga Prep in Tuesday’s district opener if tonight’s games follow form.
Lakeside in action
Top seeds from Lakeside High are in action this weekend during Northeast A League playoffs.
Two boys teams and one girls team qualify for state in the six-team tournaments.
The Eagle girls play at 3:15 p.m. Friday against either Deer Park or Chewelah. The winner plays Saturday at 7 p.m.
The Eagle boys meet either Freeman or Kettle Falls at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Mead High.
, DataTimes