East Valley wrestling coach likes what he sees in his team
The Tacoma Dome is on Craig Hanson’s mind.
“Seems like we just got started and now the season is almost over,” the longtime East Valley wrestling coach said Tuesday. “The state tournament is right around the corner.”
Just over a month away, Feb. 16 and 17, the steep road to state already has started.
“I’ve always said we’ve got the best wrestlers in the state in Eastern Washington,” Hanson said. “The problem is that we have to tear each other up to get to state. But even getting torn up, we still get the lion’s share of the state placers.”
Hanson’s Knights come out of the holiday break ready to go.
“I have a strategy that I like to use over the holidays,” he said. “First, I like to make sure they all get a couple days off to relax and enjoy the holiday. Then I like to work them extremely hard and run them extremely hard.”
The strategy works on multiple levels. It hones the body for the stretch drive, gives wrestlers a deeper tank to draw from in tournament action and adds a psychological edge.
“We have some guys that are very capable of improving,” Hanson said. “We have some guys that can compete no matter what shape they are in, but we also have some guys still learning how to believe in themselves.
“I want them to feel like they have an edge, that they’re in better shape than the other guy. I want them to have that feeling of confidence. Sometimes you have to hit the wall a few times to realize you’re getting better.”
That’s especially important for a young team that is coming together to be a team that can make some waves going forward.
“We did the University High tournament last weekend and I could tell that they were a little tired,” Hanson said, pleased. “They can use that.”
With the coming of the new year comes decision time for a few of Hanson’s wrestlers.
Winston Scott was a finalist at 182 pounds at last year’s state tournament and will qualify again at that weight in the next week so that he can wrestle at that weight again. For the most part, he’s been wrestling at 195 this season.
“He beat (Hunter) Gregerson last week, the U-Hi kid who won Tri-State,” Hanson said. “For the rest of the season, we will wrestle him at either weight, depending on which one will give him the better match.”
The coach has the same approach in the practice room. Sometimes Scott works out against the team’s 220-pound state veteran, Landon Hofstee. Sometimes it’s against lighter, faster wrestlers.
“And he gets to wrestle against a lot of coaches, too,” Hanson said. “He gets pushed hard.”
Scott got a big head start on the season by working hard over the summer and competing at the national tournament in Fargo, North Dakota.
“He had a really good tournament,” his coach said. “He wrestled six matches on the last day of the Greco-Roman tournament. He lost his last match. If he had won that match, he would have been a national placer.”
Working against Scott is a help for Hofstee.
“He’s a state qualifier from last year,” Hanson said. “It’s too bad, really, because he’s a senior and he’s still a work in progress. He can keep getting better. And he’s in a good spot to do that, working with Winston quite frequently.”
Hanson said he likes his team in upcoming dual meets.
“We don’t have a weakness anywhere,” he said. “We’re going to give up pins, sure. But we don’t have holes anywhere.”
Where the Knights can really shine will be in tournaments, in which Hanson has multiple wrestlers capable of placing at any number of weight classes – most of them with experience at that same Fargo tournament in which Scott excelled.
Depending on where a couple of lighter weights shake out, that is.
“I really like this group,” Hanson said. “They work hard every night and I have not had any problems. Top to bottom we have a good team.
“I have two decent kids at 113 pounds, two at 120, two good 145 pounders, two decent 152 pounders, two at 160 and two 220 pounders. And I have two heavyweights that were both placers at districts.
“This could be a very good team.”