Two of the best
The Central Valley Bears could finally settle which of two outstanding wrestlers is their No. 1 189-pounder today, the final day of the high school wrestling season.
Seniors Jake Neumann and Logan Bowman each have laid claim to the top spot.
A midseason transfer from Lake Roosevelt, where he won the state Class 1A 171-pound title a year ago, Bowman was the district champion, scoring a 5-4 decision over Neumann in the final.
A week later Neumann, who transferred to CV from Moses Lake a year ago, got a measure of revenge by winning the Class 4A regional title, pinning his teammate with 20 seconds remaining in the second period.
“It’s weird, wrestling my own teammates in a big match like that,” Neumann said. “You want to be in a mind-set where you want to go in there and just dominate your opponent. That’s hard to do when he’s your teammate. I mean, if I can’t win the title, I’d want him to.”
Bowman shares that sentiment.
“What’s so hard is that we know each other so well that we can’t do what we would normally do when we wrestle,” he said. “You have to throw your whole game plan out the window. He knows what I want to do as well as I do and vice versa, so it’s just not going to work. You have to improvise and think on your feet.”
The two alpha Bears have a solid working relationship in the practice room and have established a solid friendship away from the mat. The pair take turns practicing with each other as well as with 215-pound standing Tyler Cochran.
“Oh, man,” CV coach John Owen laughed, “when Jake lost the district championship he was mad. One of our kids came out after his match and said ‘coach, you don’t want to go in the locker room right now. Jake is in there and he’s not happy.’
“These are two great kids. Jake is one of those kids who just does not make mistakes. He’s the first guy in the room for practice and he does not let up the whole time he’s in there. He’s a great leader and he’s a guy everyone in the room looks up to.
“Logan is a great kid, too. I think he had a rough time when he first transferred in because he was in a new practice room and a new school and everything – it might have been a little overwhelming for him. But he’s one of those kids who just understands what he’s doing and he wrestles like that. You watch him and you know that he knows exactly what he’s doing out there.”
The pair came to Central Valley by similar routes, and both feel they’ve benefited greatly from the experience.
Neumann first joined coach John Owen following his sophomore year at Moses Lake and he spent the spring and summer wrestling nonstop in the coach’s freestyle program, eventually qualifying for the Cadet National tournament.
“That was huge for me,” he said. “I got to know a lot of the wrestlers and I wrestled freestyle for the first time in my career. After doing it for two summers, I think I’m a better freestyle wrestler than I am a collegiate-style wrestler.
“Still, I wasn’t sure how I’d be accepted once school started. But playing football helped.”
Last summer Neumann repeated at the national tournament, improving on his performance from the year before – finishing a win away from placing in Greco-Roman and two wins from placing in freestyle.
Bowman had several matches under his belt with the Raiders when he transferred to CV the week of the Tri-State tournament.
“It was a shock,” he said. “I think I was still a little bit out of shape and I was sucking wind that first day. Coach Owen likes to work his guys hard and you have to be in shape if you’re going to survive here.
“But being here has made me so much better. I have two incredible practice partners in Jake and Tyler. We push each other to get better, and you have to work hard just to keep up.”
By the end of the season, Neumann was ranked No. 4 and Bowman No. 5 in the state among 189-pounders. If they are to meet for the third-straight week, it will have to be today in a trophy match. But getting there will be no easy task. All 10 of the wrestlers ranked by Washington Wrestling Report are in the state field.
Neumann is seeded in a tough half bracket. All three wrestlers ranked ahead of him are in his half-bracket. Bowman is the top-ranked wrestler in his half of the bracket.
“It helps to have gone through this process before,” Bowman said. “I know what to expect and I know what I have to do.”
“I excited for my teammates,” Neumann said. “I need to get out of my head between matches, so I’m looking forward to watching their matches and rooting them on.”