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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Preps notebook: Mead wrestling continues to impress

Wrestling officially reached the halfway point in the Greater Spokane League this week.

Most of the GSL teams begin the second half of league duals tonight.

There’s no doubt that the Mead Panthers have firmly established themselves as heavy favorites to capture the State 4A championship. They had a December like no other and the roll should continue this month into the district, regional and state tournaments next month.

The only hiccup the Panthers suffered occurred at the Tri-State tournament where senior Tyler McLean, son of coach Phil McLean, suffered a dislocated clavicle in the semifinals and had to default out of the tournament. He was ahead in his match and likely would have won an individual title.

McLean has been hampered by injuries the past two years. His junior season was cut short halfway through when he suffered a knee injury.

Father reports that son could be back as soon as next week.

“He’s getting better,” McLean said. “It’s tender and weak, but thankfully it’s just muscle and tissue damage and it wasn’t a break.

“We’ll have to get busy. We have to fix some things,” McLean said following the Tri-State tourney as he looked ahead to 2012. “We have to get them all dialed in for the big push – the state tournament.”

Standout Jordan Rogers (182 pounds), who is headed to Oklahoma State University, is looking forward to the final half of the season.

“We have a really deep team,” Rogers said. “It’s a phenomenal workout room. We have such strong workout partners and that’s what is helping our team out. We’re just pushing each other to get better. Iron sharpens iron. That’s how it works in our room.”

• In duals tonight, North Central (3-1) goes to Mead (4-0), Ferris (1-3) is at Central Valley (3-1), Gonzaga Prep (0-4) is at Mt. Spokane (3-1) and Shadle Park (0-4) visits Rogers (2-2). The matches begin at 7.

• The Pacific Northwest Classic is Friday and Saturday at University. The finals begin at 4:30 p.m. Saturday

• The Hall of Fame Duals are Saturday at Moses Lake and they shape up to be an East vs. West showdown between the top 4A teams in the state.

Mead and CV will go against Tahoma, Graham-Kapowsin and Lake Stevens. Each team will have three duals.

“It’s going to be real quality. Those are the best 4A teams in the state,” McLean said.

It’s fishy Friday

The annual Fight for the Fish spirit doubleheader between crosstown rival Coeur d’Alene and Lake City boys and girls basketball teams will be Friday at CdA’s Elmer Jordan Court.

The games count in the league standings.

The girls tip off at 5:45 followed by the boys at about 7:30.

The CdA girls (12-2, 2-1) are coming off a big 53-31 win Tuesday over defending state champ Lewiston. The Vikings and LC (9-5, 1-1) played in the Coeur d’Alene Inn-vitational last week. CdA led 33-28 at halftime before holding LC to seven points in the second half. The boys game could be a tug of war. CdA (6-3, 1-0) edged LC (6-5, 0-0) 48-46 for third in the CdA Inn-vitational.