Prep notebook: State crown would cure all

There would be no regional wrestling championship for Ryan Jorgensen. His teammate at 160 pounds, Waylon Cork, saw to that with a 1-0 quarterfinal victory.

But considering the circumstances of the Deer Park junior’s career, competing this weekend in the State 2A tournament is just as monumental.

Jorgensen, whose dad Matt Jorgensen is the Stags coach, missed last year because of a severe knee injury. He re-injured the knee this mid-December and didn’t return to the mat for competition until district, Feb. 1 and 2.

Disappointed? Certainly. Deterred? Not at all. Jorgensen, knee trussed for support, went from “pigtail” regional entrant to third-place finisher and will continue Friday and Saturday at Mat Classic XX in Tacoma.

Once in the regional tournament proper, he won four of five matches, all by pin, to finish in third place.

“I wanted to take first,” Jorgensen said, “but Waylan wrestled a good match.”

Jorgensen first tore two tendons and meniscus during a summer intensive camp after his freshman year and sat out last season. During the summer he was seventh in a national tournament and sixth in the Tri-State in mid-December, but was injured again in a freak wrestling room accident.

He suffered less severe ligament damage this time and when his doctor said he could “ditch the crutches,” Jorgensen said, “it was the first time I ever got good news out of that place.”

At district, he reached the semifinals, tweaked the knee again and defaulted his next two matches, figuring he could win the regional pigtail match against a Columbia Basin League foe. The knee was sore at regional, but held up fine.

Jorgensen said that for the past nearly two years there was nothing worse that having to sit out and watch other wrestlers practice and compete.

His goals this weekend remain lofty. “That last loss made me wrestle better, and now I’m pretty determined,” he said. “My goal is to be a state champ. I’ve got two more days and then I can rest (the knee) up.”

Believe it or not

For all the successes of Lewis and Clark girls basketball – and the litany runs long – when the Tigers defeated Mead 63-41 Saturday it was the first time they have completed a perfect 20-0.

“Oh, yeah, it’s the first,” said coach Jim Redmon, adding with a laugh, “and it will probably be the only one.”

The history includes the last two 4A state championships, a second, two thirds and a fifth in eight tourney appearances. Under Redmon, LC has reached state for five straight years.

“Obviously, you don’t ever go in thinking you’ll be 20-0,” said Redmon. “My comment is, there’s no Angie Bjorklund in league. She ruined a lot of perfect records.”

And, he added, he doesn’t know if perfection is healthy considering the potential added pressure of the postseason (of course, tell that to the Ferris boys who were 29-0 last year).

This year’s team can take pride in adding another milestone to the basketball legacy.

LC won every GSL game but one by double digits (beating Mead 52-48 early in the year), and won 14 by 20 or more points. The Tigers did it with trademark depth. Ten played regularly and eight scored in double figures at least once.

There was no go-to star as in the past, said Redmon, although Oregon State-bound playmaker Brittany Kennedy has filled that capacity the past couple weeks. Leading scorer Jeneva Anderson and Sarah Kliewer, both juniors, have helped maintain solid team statistics.

“(This year) was kind of an unknown for us because so many great players left for college,” said Redmon. “But overall I don’t think the league is far off from where it’s been.”

District competition for GSL boys and girls teams begins tonight. The Tigers play Thursday with an eye toward a sixth straight state trip.

“We all have faith in a league that’s carried us in the past,” said Redmon.

Speaking of milestones

Ferris keeps adding to its impressive list of numbers as the boys team enters the postseason with the district semifinals Thursday at Central Valley.

And as senior guard Jeff Minnerly said last week, “That’s when it’s the most fun.”

The Saxons completed their second straight 20-0 regular season with an embarrassingly easy win over University in which the starters played but 10 minutes and led 46-7 at halftime.

That gives them a state 4A record 49 straight wins over two years (and they are also 49-0 in league games dating to 2006).

But coach Don Van Lierop pointed out some other significant accomplishments.

During their three seasons on varsity, Shawn Stockton, Jared Karsetter and Evan Ewing have been part of a 59-1 regular season run. Two others, Minnerly and Beau Brett, have not lost a high school regular-season game playing freshman, junior varsity and two years of varsity.