Lakeside Takes Lead Into Semis
A wrestling
A great first round Friday helped Lakeside take the first-day team lead in the State A-B portion of Mat Classic IX.
The Eagles scored 55 points to Connell’s 44-1/2 when their 10-wrestler contingent posted seven first-match victories. Three moved into today’s semifinals.
Two other Northeast A League schools had smaller contingents, but much success.
Chewelah’s three-wrestler team of Brian Dollar (141), Luke Sheppard (178) and Ben Eggleston (215) each won twice impressively. Of the six wins, four were by pin or default. The Cougars are seventh with 30 points.
Medical Lake sent two of its four - Jesse Moroni at 108 pounds and Ben Steele at 122 - to the semifinals. The other two, Jeff Racicot (158) and Oly Mahaffey (275), will place. The Cardinals stand fifth with 35 points.
Almira-Coulee/Hartline’s Jason Ogle (115), a state runner-up last year, is on target for a repeat trip to the finals and Heath Berger (168) from Deer Park is unbeaten after two.
In the first round, Region IV wrestlers won 39 of 56 matches and advanced 26 to today’s 56-wrestler semifinals.
Lakeside’s success was mixed.
“We were in tough quarter brackets lined up with returning state champions,” said coach Scott Jones.
Anthony Layton opened against two-time champion Dwayne Magnusson from Blaine and lost by technical fall. Sean Wheeler faced defending champion Garrett Knutson of Kiona-Benton in his second match. He lost 4-3.
Aaron Laughery moved into the 148-pound semifinals against Knutson’s brother, Travis, another state champion.
Laughery is one of Lakeside’s three tournament unbeatens after pinning Justin Holdaas of Blaine.
Laughery said he didn’t wrestle well during an early 6-6 standoff. He let his foe get up for a point in the third round before taking him to his back.
“I just broke him,” said Laughery. “After a while I was totally confident.”
Also in the finals is 122-pound Tim Weisser, who felt he was victimized by picky officiating. He fell behind by three points before winning over Orting’s Scott Penney 10-9 in overtime. “The referee kept saying I was going off the mat and not coming back in,” said Weisser. “He was pushing me out and I couldn’t come back.” Also in the semis is 141-pound Nate Bohl. He was a placer last year at 148, but came down a weight for his senior season. He won twice 3-1. The latter win came over last year’s fourth-placer, Bobby Mantle of River View.
“Everyone kept telling me how good he was,” said Bohl. “Competing at this level is all in the mind.”
Lakeside brought four others back through the consolation rounds and is in a battle with Connell, among others, for team honors. Connell has three finalists and two remaining in consolations. Quincy and Castle Rock are other title contenders.
, DataTimes