Making a state-ment

If you’re looking for someone to lead you somewhere, you want a guide who’s been there.

In the world of high school wrestling, that means stocking your practice room with returning state champions and placers.

“You want guys like that to set an example for the rest of the room,” Lewis and Clark coach Ty Lingo said. “When you have someone who’s been there, you raise the level of work ethic for everyone else.”

This year they’re in short supply.

The Greater Spokane League made a good showing at last year’s state tournament. Two teams made top-five finishes. University, defending its 2004-05 state title, finished fourth at Class 4A; East Valley was third at 3A.

For the 2006-07 season, Central Valley has two returning state champions. Senior Nick Cambron won the State 4A 103-pound championship. Junior Tanner Teeples, who wrestled at CV as a freshman, won last year’s Utah Class 2A 103-pound title.

CV coach John Owen said having a returning state champion in his room was a key to building his program. In is fifth year at the school, Owen has a returning state champion for the second straight year.

“It’s a big deal,” he said. “You can talk about what it takes to win in this sport, but the kids don’t always get it. But when they see someone who’s done it and have to work right next to them, they understand.”

Just five GSL teams have a returning wrestler who stood on the awards platform at the end of last year’s state wrestling tournament in the Tacoma Dome. Only two have multiple returning state placers.

LC has a pair in seniors Trevor Powell, who finished third at 125 pounds, and Anthony Varnell, who placed fourth at 140.

“It’s a good thing we have those two,” Lingo said. “We don’t have a lot of numbers out this year and they’re going to have to carry a lot of the load for us.”

U-Hi has two veterans of the state’s final match. Junior Brian Owen won the state 103-pound title as a freshman and reached the state 112-pound final a year ago, losing in overtime. Owen, an All-American freestyle wrestler, competed with a broken vertebra in his back all last season. The Titans got a bonus when senior Anthony Rivera transferred across the valley after reaching the 3A 112-final for East Valley a year ago.

“Brian had surgery on his back over the summer and he’s coming back well,” U-Hi coach Don Owen said.

Gonzaga Prep returns Jon Healy, last year’s fifth-place finisher at 145, and Mt. Spokane returns Noah Hatton, who placed seventh at the same weight.

“It really helps when you have a guy like Jon back,” G-Prep coach Danny Pearson said. “We’ve asked Jon to take on a leadership role with this team and he’s really stepped up and done a great job with it.”

This year’s change in how overtime is scored is seen as a positive step. In past years, if a match was tied after regulation, wrestlers would compete in a 1-minute overtime period. If the match was still deadlocked, the wrestler who scored first in the match would choose up or down for a 30-second period. If neither wrestler scored, they reversed positions for another 30 seconds. Whoever scored first would win.

This year, wrestlers would compete through both 30-second periods. Instead of sudden death, the overtime would be the sports equivalent of a shoot-out.

“I think this is a lot more fair,” Lingo said. “This way, you don’t lose on whether or not you get to choose your best position in overtime.”