Valley schools loaded with champions

Ask a wrestling coach and he’ll tell you just how important it is to have a state tournament veteran in their practice room. If he just happens to be a returning state champion? So much the better.

In a sport based on the premise that an athlete’s success is a direct result of the amount of hard work and dedication they put into it, having someone who’s been to the mountain top in practice room sets a crucial standard.

If a wrestler has stood on the state awards platform, they come back hungry to get back. They know already just how hard they had to work to get there once and usually are bent on working that much harder to climb to the top again.

If that wrestler is a defending state champion, they know the bar is set high and every opponent he faces in every match will be inspired to knock him off, just for the bragging rights.

State veterans, especially state champions, are de facto leaders in any wrestling room they walk into. Every other wrestler in the room keeps one eye on what, and how, they go about their business.

Hard work leads to success in wrestling. And success in wrestling leads to working that much harder – and any coach will tell you that raising the standard for work ethic is like a rising tide that lifts every other boat.

All five Spokane Valley schools have those kinds of wrestlers helping to raise the bar in their respective rooms.

Central Valley and University both have a returning state champion leading the way, but East Valley has something no other wrestling room in the state can claim: a defending national champion.

While Freeman does not have a returning state champion, they have a returning state runner-up. And the Scotties have the most returning state placers.

Central Valley

Senior Blake Beard is the defending state champion at 138 pounds and his brother, junior Bryson Beard, was the runner-up at 120 pounds.

Brother Bridger Beard placed fifth at last year’s district tournament at 113 pounds.

This trio undoubtedly set a high standard in a way that only brothers can.

Blake Beard dominated his 138-pound championship final at CV’s Inland Empire Classic tournament last weekend, and was rewarded with the Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament trophy.

Bryson Beard, last year’s Eastern Regional champion at 120, placed second at last week’s IE – falling to Idaho state champion Drake Foster of Post Falls. Bridger Beard earned a fifth-place trophy moving up to 132 at the IE.

Sophomore Braeden Orrino, the district champion at 132 last year, captured the 145 title at the IE – the weight where his brother, Colton, won the state championship last year. 

University

The Titans were the regional team champions at last year’s Class 3A, but move back to Class 4A this season – making the iconic Battle of the Bone match with CV all the more important.

Senior Tate Orndorff won the state Class 3A championship at 285 back in February. After a highly successful summer at national tournaments and signing a national letter of intent to wrestle at Oregon State, he’s intent on adding a state Class 4A title to his list of accomplishments.

Cam Sorenson placed second at 126 at last year’s state tournament. This year he’s moved up to 132, where he placed second at last week’s IE tournament.

Senior Dylan Rabideaux placed second at last year’s 3A regional at 182, and junior Levi Meinzinger was fifth.

East Valley

Randy McDonald placed seventh at 113 pounds at last year’s state Class 2A tournament as a freshman. This year he’s already captured the IE tourney title at 120 points, blanking U-Hi’s Mickey Garrison in the final, 6-0.

Senior Gabe Meyer placed sixth at 138 a year ago at state.

Junior Trey Meyer was third at 145 at state a year ago, but moved up to 152 over the summer and captured the cadet national championship.

At the IE Meyer needed a takedown with 27 seconds left to pull out 5-4 win over Moses Lake’s Chase Clason, himself a third-place finish at state last year.

Meyer said after the match that he had been “wrestling afraid to lose” all weekend and vowed to quit.

West Valley

The Eagles earned 31 team points at last year’s state Class 2A tournament, 19½ points behind rival East Valley – a sign of improvement.

This year West Valley will have a hungry Jace Malek leading the wrestling room every day.

The senior will be hungry to improve on a second-place finish a year ago at 220 pounds. The wrestler he lost to in the finals was Clarkston’s Dylan Beeler. The pair will likely meet many times over the season.

Freeman

The Scotties return five of the six state placers from a year ago on a team that placed fifth at state.

Senior Markus Goldbach is the highest returning placer, losing in the finals at 182.

Teigan Glidewell placed fifth at 220 pounds, Preston Hoppman was seventh at 160 and Jesse Schmidlkofer and Konner Forsham placed eighth at 145 and 152, respectively.