Leaner WV wrestler advances
Tyler Brischle heads off to the last regional tournament of his high school career as a leaner and meaner wrestler.
After a season of hard work in the wrestling room, extra dedication in the weight room and a lot of extra miles running every morning to help lose 33 pounds, the West Valley senior wants to see his hard work translate into a trip to the state tournament in Tacoma Friday and next Saturday.
“I’ve been wrestling since I was 4 years old,” Brischle said. “In a way, I’m sorry that I put off all the hard work until the last minute. I try to tell the young guys in the program that they have to make the most of the chances they have now and not to wait.”
Brischle wrestled last year at 152 pounds and started the season weighing in at 178 pounds. But first-year head coach John Villaro told the senior his best weight would be 145 and that he wanted to see him there.
“Our new coach is kind of a hard-ass,” Brischle said. “And I think that’s just what we needed.
“I had to really watch what I eat and drink in the beginning, but now that I’m down at this weight and I’ve had some time to kind of settle in, it’s not hard for me make weight. I should have been down at 140 or 145 all along.”
At 152, Brischle said, he felt a little pudgy and his opponents felt stronger. Seven pounds lighter, he feels comfortable and better able to compete.
“I think the competition is more technical at 145,” he said. “Guys don’t try to out-muscle you so much. It’s more about being a better technical wrestler.”
It doesn’t come down to stamina – at least not for the Eagles.
“We are in top condition,” Brischle said. “We have guys who only wrestle in season, guys who aren’t dedicated to the sport year-around, and they still have more gas in the tank than the guys they’re wrestling. We get to the end of a match and we’re still strong. It’s the other guy who’s tired and breathing hard.
“That’s important at the end of a match. When you get that tired, you can’t think. When you aren’t thinking about how tired you are, you can think about what you’re doing and your brain lets you think several moves ahead. You can still string moves together to win your match.”
That’s all due to Villaro and his dedication to fundamentals and conditioning.
“We start practice and we probably throw 200 double-leg takedowns,” Brischle laughed. “I fell asleep the other night, and I dreamed about doing double-leg takedowns.”
That’s the way it used to be in the old days at West Valley, Brischle’s dad keeps telling him.
“My dad wrestled here, and he’s always telling me stories about (former coach) Chuck Miller and what a wild man he was and what a hard-ass he was in the practice room,” he said. “I think we’re starting to bring that back, and I want to be a part of re-establishing the tradition here.
“I heard all the stories about how there were trash cans stationed around the wrestling room because guys knew they were going to work so hard they’d throw up. And they’d all be in great shape.”
Brischle said he keeps encouraging freshman Quinn Gannon, who shares the family connection to West Valley’s wrestling glory days. Gannon’s father, Tom, was third at state for the Eagles. His uncles Steve (state champion) and Glenn (state placer) were on the Eagles’ 1972 state championship team. In fact, starting in 1969, most West Valley wrestling teams featured a member of the Gannon family.
Gannon reached the semifinals at 125 pounds at the Class 2A district tournament last week, but finished fifth to be an alternate to this week’s regional at Ellensburg.
Brischle, who finished third at 145, will be joined by Kevin Udell, who will compete at 112, and Justin Thieman, who will wrestle at 130.
“I really want to be a role model for the young guys in the room so they can see that the hard work really does pay off,” Brischle said. “You have to do more than just show up and work hard in practice if you’re going to have success in this sport. I wish I had learned that earlier in my career.
“We have this brand new wrestling room, and we have a chance to bring this program back to what it was before. I really want to see that.”