Looking for victory
It’s not always victories that forge a champion.
More often, champions are born out of earlier defeats.
Jeremy Montang plans to prove it.
Montang heads into Friday’s opening rounds of the State 4A wrestling tournament after suffering his only defeat of the season – a loss to Ferris’ defending state 140-pound champion Kyle Yonago, surrendering two takedowns in the final minute to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the 140-pound final of the regional tournament.
“It was really a little humiliating to lose like that, especially when I hadn’t lost all season before that,” Montang said. “That was pretty hard to take. Fortunately, I was able to take a little time and put that behind me.”
Montang had a little help.
For starters, his brother Ryan, a fifth-place finisher at 125 pounds in 2002, was there to help. And his teammates were there to help.
“It helped to talk to my brother about it,” Montang said. “And we have great chemistry on our team. We’re always there to pick each other up.”
Most of all, his coach salved the wound.
“Coach (Don) Owen talked to me about it,” he said. “He told me that it might end up being the best thing that could have happened to me.”
Owen has a feeling the two will meet once more.
“They’re going to go after it again this weekend, I’m sure, in the state tournament,” he said. “I’ve seen the draw. Kyle is in the other half of the draw from Jeremy, and they both have some pretty tough matches first, but I think they’ll both get to the final.”
Yonago won the 140-pound championship last year while Montang finished third at 130. Saturday’s match was their first meeting – part of a brief season for Yonago, who missed much of the Greater Spokane League season with an injury.
“Sometimes that helps a wrestler,” Owen said. “By the end of the year, a wrestler can get a little burned out. It’s awfully tough to come back and wrestle that well after an injury. It takes quite a wrestler.”
Saturday’s loss may make Montang’s state tournament.
The loss before that made his senior season.
Montang lost to Grant Nakashima of Kentwood, 5-3, in last year’s 130-pound semifinal – like the loss to Yonago, a last-second turnaround that was difficult to stomach for a young wrestler.
One of the toughest turnarounds in high school sports is the leap from the disappointment of losing a semifinal match to wrestling for a third-place trophy.
“That was really hard,” Montang said. “I was ahead until late in that match and losing it was just crushing. Then to have to go back and wrestle again right after that was asking a lot. You have to find something inside yourself to pick yourself up and go forward.”
Montang did just that, beating Shane Onufer of Auburn in the third-place match, 9-3.
It was a win, but it wasn’t much consolation.
The memory of that loss led to a year of hard work and an undefeated regular season.
“Nobody works harder than we do,” Montang said. “When you get to a big match, we know the other guy is going to run out of gas before we do.”
There have been two matches Montang has kept on his VCR this week, preparing to take the mat tomorrow inside the Tacoma Dome: The loss to Nakashima and the loss to Yonago.
“I can still see each of those matches in my head without watching the tape, but I watch the tape over and over anyway,” Montang said. “It’s part of what gets me ready to go.”
Montang opens today against Kameron Harmon of Capital. Awaiting him in the quarterfinals will likely be Auburn’s Kurt Swartz.
In preparation, Montang has had a little extra help in the University wrestling room.
“Our 103-pounder, Brian Owen, has been taunting me with that. All week he’s been wearing an Auburn Wrestling T-shirt with ‘Schwartz No. 1’ written across the back – he wrote it himself,” Montang laughed. “I got back at him, though. He has a tough semifinal draw with Chase Smith from Enumclaw. I’ve been wearing an Enumclaw Wrestling T-shirt, just for him.”