Hatton never gives up

Noah Hatton knows all about comebacks.

The Mt. Spokane senior wrestler has made a career out of battling back. He has a pair of seventh-place medals from the State 4A tournament to show for his willingness to keep wrestling until the final whistle.

“I guess I learned how to put a loss behind me pretty early,” Hatton said. “I started out competing in judo tournaments when I was 4 years old. I’ve been competing since then.

“You just have to just start thinking about the next match and get yourself mentally prepared. You have to put a loss behind you – at least until it’s all over.”

Hatton’s early lessons have helped him navigate a number of big tournaments, from huge freestyle and Greco-Roman tournaments during the summer to the annual Tri-State Tournament at North Idaho College and a pair of Mat Classic appearances.

After pinning North Central’s Mike Pursel in the subregional final, Hatton will be a No. 1 seed at 152 pounds in the Region 4 3A tournament Saturday at Sunnyside.

When you grow up competing in martial arts tournaments and are a veteran of some of the biggest amateur wrestling tournaments in the country, you learn how to focus.

“I’ve learned not to let big crowds bother me,” he said. “I’ve wrestled the tournament in Las Vegas, where they have something like 29 different mats all going at the same time.

That experience served Hatton well last year in the biggest comeback of his high school career.

The junior suffered an early-season knee injury last year. He missed the majority of the Greater Spokane League dual-match season and did not return until the last minute.

“I had knee surgery a week after Tri-State,” he said. “I came back three days before districts and started practicing again and was still able to qualify.

“I just wanted to do the best that I could despite all the things that befell me. I just felt that it would be better to go there and try than not go there at all, whether I was 100 percent or not.”

Hatton wasn’t close to 100 percent – he figures he was closer to 70 percent.

“The tough part is that you just don’t have a lot of practice under your belt,” he said. “You don’t have any stamina.”

What Hatton did have was experience and he drew heavily from it to make up for his physical deficit.

“I was a lot more cautious,” he said. “I still tried to control the match, because otherwise it’s really hard to win. You can’t let them take the fight to you; you have to take the fight to them.”

At state, Hatton lost to eventual champion Trevor Hall of Battle Ground, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, in the quarterfinals.

“I learned a lot from that match,” he said. “You have to take your time in a match and not be overly aggressive.”

Hatton battled back through the consolation bracket, surviving a loss to rival Jon Healy of Gonzaga Prep to blank top-seeded Jesse Stokke of Kentlake 6-0, to earn his second consecutive seventh-place trophy.

Mt. Spokane dropped to Class 3A this season, but Hatton still sees familiar faces ahead.

“It’s not all that different,” he said. “A lot of Class 4A schools dropped down.”