GSL takes three titles

TACOMA – One down, and just three years left to fulfill a prophecy. That’s the way Mead freshman Jordan Rogers sees it.

Rogers took the first step toward his stated goal of four state wrestling championships with a 6-4 overtime victory at 140 pounds over Kentwood senior Cody Quinn at Mat Classic XXI. His victory pushed the Panthers into the top 10 overall with 63 points.

Lake Stevens easily won its third consecutive State 4A team championship over runner-up Snohomish, 169 to 102.5. It’s the fourth time a team has won at least three consecutive titles in the big-school division.

Moses Lake did so twice, while Kentwood did it from 1990-92. It also was the Vikings’ sixth title since 2000.

As a first-time champion, Rogers became one of three 4A titlists from the Greater Spokane League. University’s Jake Mason won 18-3 at 160 and Rogers’ teammate Jacob Trotter prevailed 4-2 at 215.

“This is such a weird feeling,” Rogers said. “When I was little, I always knew I wanted to be a great wrestler. I started when I was 4. It just felt so different in the moment.”

Good different or bad different?

“Oh, it feels great,” Rogers said.

But Rogers wasn’t the only area guy feeling pretty good. Take North Central coach Luke Leifer, for instance.

Anytime Leifer looked up at the big scoreboards in the Tacoma Dome, his team’s name stared back at him as part of the Class 3A top 10. The Indians finished seventh overall.

“To be on the leaderboard is a pretty exciting thing,” said Leifer, who wrestled at NC in the early 1990s and is in his second season back at the school as the coach. “We’ve got these young guys working hard and believing in themselves.”

Among those young guys are two juniors who made the 3A championship finals, Nathan Brown and Ben Carter. Though neither won a title, they represented the Indians’ successful weekend.

“We’ve got a lot of those young guys,” Leifer said. “But we knew we could do great if everything worked out for us. This place can usually get you down. But I’m excited.”

The area’s top 3A team may not have been as excited. Of course, East Valley has made a habit of being on the Mat Classic leaderboard.

EV finished third behind Enumclaw (174 points for a second consecutive state title) and Yelm (139). EV had three finalists and one champion – Dakota Lawson, 5-4 over Ferndale’s Ryan Nelson at 189 – to finish with 127 points.

“This is exactly what I predicted,” EV coach Craig Hanson said. “I figured we could score between 115 and 130. Yelm maybe scored a little more.”

Challenging Enumclaw for the team title crossed Hanson’s mind, briefly.

“They brought 15 kids and we had eight,” Hanson said. “We have half the numbers. It’s impossible to do that.”

Second place was a more realistic goal.

“It wasn’t like we didn’t do the job,” Hanson said. “Yelm just did a really good job.”

EV’s other finalists were Chris Tripplet, who lost in overtime to Bonney Lake’s Addison Tracy at 145, while Jacob Rodriguez fell to Sedro-Woolley’s three-time champ Derek Garcia at 152.

What the local 3A participants couldn’t do, Rogers, in 4A did. And he wants to make sure his focus stays on the prize at hand.

“I see a lot of good guys come in here as freshmen and win, then don’t have that edge again,” Rogers said. “I plan to work hard over the off-season to keep it.”

One difference between Rogers and many of the successful freshmen at state is his weight class. At 140 rather than the lower classes, he saw more upperclassmen along the road.

But as a 125-pound eighth-grader, Rogers learned a valuable lesson.

“I wasn’t very strong,” Rogers said. “I lost a match in Oregon because I thought I could go in there and win it just off raw talent. I saw that you have got to work at it. I wasn’t going to be able to beat juniors and seniors with talent and normal freshman strength.”

So, he talked to his dad and they hit the gym.

“I really hit the weights hard,” Rogers said.

The work paid off in a freshman title.