2/19-20/16

ESN is live from the Tacoma Dome where we will have coverage from start to finish. Below are links to results and schedules followed by stories and pictures. This site will be updated through out the tournament.

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Link to WIAA Tournament Central

Girls Tournament

Link to Results, Schedules and Team Standings

Mt Baker Girls surges to 2nd place team finish leads Whatcom County competitors

The Mountaineers gave it a good shot but fell short in their effort at winning the team title but taking 2nd behind Grandview. The Greyhounds finished with 92 points while Mt. Baker had 73 followed by Federal Way with 70.5 and Washougal with 70.

Mt. Baker’s run was fueled by State Champion Natalie Smith at weight class 125.

Smith picked up two pins in her 1st 2 matches and then beat Anesia Ramirez 6-2 in the Semi-Finals to advance to the Championship. Smith then beat Morgan Jones of Eastmont for the Championship with her 3rd pin of the tournament in the middle of the 2nd round.

The Mountaineers also got big efforts from Akemi Schwinden in the heavyweight division. Schwinden fell short of the title taking 2nd losing a heart breaker to Clover Park’s Lourdes Faletagoai 5-3 in overtime. Other Mountaineer placers included Korbyn Cadle at 120 finishing 8th and at 145 Rachel Nichols took 5th.

Other Whatcom County Results

Nooksack Valley girls also finished strong taking 6th place overall and crowning 1 Champion. Sophomore Emma Bruntil stood on top of the awards podium after defeating Jasmine Pleasants of Thomas Jefferson 12-2. Bruntil recorded 2 pins in the opening rounds and beat Erin Redford of White River 8-2 in the Semi-finals. NV also had others take home medals, Freshman Kaylee Moore lost to 4-time Champion Jordyn Bartelson of Puyallup in the 120 title round to settle for 2nd, at 125 Julie De La Cruz finished 6th and at 135 Miana Rabang finished 5th.

4A Tournament

Link to Results, Schedules and Team Standings

Battle Ground Frosh ready for the Big Time

Battle Ground’s James Rogers is not surprised he finds himself in the State 4A 145 Semi-Finals even though he is a

Freshman…even though he has not competed at a Mat Classic…even though in the quarterfinals he was matched up with a 2-time defending State Champion.

Looking from the outside in you might think he’s arrogant or cocky but there is a fine line between arrogance and self-confidence and after talking with James there is no arrogance to be found but certainly a strong, confident young man. So what’s the secret? Well maybe his coach Jay Rogers oh and yes he is also James’ Dad. Jay was an elite wrestler himself competing at the highest collegiate level at Oklahoma State. So starting early and being extremely successful created the opportunity for James to thrive and he certainly has.

Rogers opened the tournament with a 2nd round pin over Issaquah’s Kaleb Solusod setting up his meeting with 2-time defending State Champion Diego Castaneda a Senior from Sunnyside. Rogers uses a multi-dimensional attack with plenty of counters and looks for opportunities to score. He would simply pull too far ahead of Castaneda and then wrestled a magnificent defensive match at the end to never give the defending Champ a chance to even get back in the match.

Rogers now has his attention focused on Gavin Eaglin from Graham-Kapowsin  who advanced with a hard fought 3-2 win over Olympia’s Logan Pine. If he wins and gets to the Championship the Freshman may raise some eyebrows or surprise some on-lookers but one thing is for certain he won’t be one of them wondering how he got there.

Updated: Rogers did advance to the State Championship with an 11-5 win over Eaglin and now faces Trysten Perales of Lake Stevens. However, in the finals Rogers ran into a tough Perales who handed the Frosh his 1st State Tourney loss with a 5-2 decision.

Yelm flexes muscles in 1st round leads Team Standings after 1 round

The Yelm Tornados are moving down to the 3A classification next season and many 4A schools will be glad to see them go. Yelm has had a dominant program under Head Coach Gaylord Strand and they are ready to the leave the 4A’s in a blaze of glory. The Tornado’s wrapped up the 1st session with 8 winners.

Msaon Harrison won at 113, James Page 120, Thomas Munoz 126, Derrick Platt with a tough fought 8-6 OT win at 160. At 170 Bo Campbell got a pin, Tyler Losch won at 182, Jeremy Smith got a Tech fall at 195 and Holden Miller pinned his man at 285.

We talked with James Page who is a Senior and wrestling in his first Mat Classic. Page defeated Patrick Wheeler of Curtis with a pin in just 1:02. Page says he took Wheeler with a Fireman’s carry and when he went to try and stand up doubled him to a half to get the pin. Page is 28-6 on the season and will wrestle Andy Sandhu of Kentwood in the quarters.

Updated: James won his quarterfinal match beating Andy Sandhu of Kentwood 8-6. This guarantees Page a placing and a chance to wrestle for the State Title to do so he will have to get past Nic Hara from Moses Lake tomorrow morning.

Big man Holden Miller has been here before with a 6th and 7th place finish and is looking to take a big forward step.

Miller got off to a great start with a 3rd round pin over Jimmy Moore from Skyview. Miller says he likes to hand battle and look for an opening for an arm drag. He was able to pull down Moore just before the match was to end to get the pin points for the team standings. Miller takes on Nic Workman of Richland in the Quarters.

2nd Day Update: The Tornados struggled in the 2nd round and Day 2. Entering the Finals round they dropped from 1st place to 15th. None of the 1st round winners made it to the finals. Here is how the Tornados placed: 120 James Page 6th,  182 Tyler Losch 7th and 195 Jeremy Smith 3rd.

Olympia off to a good start

The Olympia Bears got 2 big 1st round pins in the 138 and 145 weight classes. Layne Pannkuk got things started with a

pin over Gage Connole of Central Valley getting him in the 3rd round at the 5:19 mark. Pannkuk, a Junior, is looking to move up the awards podium from last year where he placed 7th. Pannkuk comes in ranked 6th in the state and is now 28-5 for the season. Pannkuk will face Ryden Fu of Tahoma in the quarterfinals.

Bears Senior Logan Pine at 145 also moved on via pinfall with a 1st round win in just 1:34. Bears Coach Greg Hargrave was pleased with how Pine went about his business today saying he was focused and kept to the basics. Hargrave says sometimes kids like to do a lot more than necessary to get the win and will get caught at times. He says Pine was laser focused and got a solid opening round win.

Pine comes in ranked 5th in the State at 145 and would like to add to his Mat Classic medal collection finishing 5th as a Freshman, 6th his Sophomore and missed last season due to injury. He is now 36-1 for the season.

The Bears Patrick Flannery also got a 1st round win battling into overtime 5-3 to take out Tanner Howington of Camas. Flannery advances to the quarter’s against Moses Lakes’ Dylan Morris who won his opener 6-1. Bears Coach Hargrave has high expectations of Flannery and thinks he has a great shot at getting to the Semi-Finals.

Final Bears Re-Cap

Layne Pannkuk would lose a heart breaking 2-1 match in the 138 Semi-finals and would end up 5th overall. Logan Pine lost a tight one to get to the Semi’s but battled back to take 3rd place at 145 and Flannery would lose 2 in a row after his opening round win.

3A Tournament

Link to Results, Schedules and Team Standings

Fastest Pin of the 1st Round

Edmonds-Woodway’s Mason McDaniel finished 2nd last year at Mat Classic and has his sights set on the top prize this year. McDaniel was ranked #1 in all classifications going into Regionals but lost the Championship to Azariah Crew from Arlington. McDaniel said that has given a good reminder to remain focused and get back to what got him to that #1 ranking.

Well if that loss led to his 1st round win, McDaniel will be the one to beat as he took out that frustration on Kaesen Ludwig of Bonney Lake pinning him in 13-seconds and is the fastest pin of Mat Classic 28 through the 1st round. McDaniel said he locked up with Ludwig and felt him try to step forward when he quickly threw him to the mat squeezed down and got the pin.

McDaniel now faces AJ Hoggatt from Kelso in the quarter finals. If he wins he would wrestle in tomorrow’s Semi’s with a chance to get back to the Championship match. He could face Crew in the Championship match if both continue to win.

Updated:

Mason got his re-match with Azariah Crew from Arlington who beat him a week ago in the Regional final with a 7-3 win to claim the Championship. McDaniel also held on to the fastest pin of the tournament in his 13-second win in the 1st round.

Ferndale Crowns a Champion

Ferndale crowned 1 Champion Ben Broselle at 182. Broselle beat Kione Gill of Enumclaw in a competitive Championship match but pulled away in the end to secure the title. Broselle cruised to the title match with 2 pins and a Tech Fall win in the Semi-Finals. Other Eagles taking home a medal included Sophomore Eli Croy at 126 with a 6th place finish, Noah Saenz placed 7th at 145, Braiden Klimp took 6th at 160 and Sam Cleary also took home a 6th place medal at 195. This effort earned the Eagles a top 10 team finish in 9th place.

2A Tournament

Link to Results, Schedules and Team Standings

Yes he just did that!!

It seems every year at any big sporting event you see something you have never seen or rarely seen and Mat Classic 28

is no different. White River’s Head Coach Joe Klein no doubt has a pit in his stomach after costing his fabulous Freshman Nathan Moore a chance at the 138 State Championship after literally giving the Semi-Final match to WF West’s Damon Thomas. Thomas and more were nip and tuck through regulation with Thomas leading 5-4 with a minute to play when Moore got the go ahead take down to lead 6-5. Thomas would then get an escape to even the match at 6-6 sending it to overtime.

30-seconds into the sudden death OT Moore had to take an injury time-out and despite being in a neutral position it was Moore’s 2nd injury time-out and that gave Thomas his choice of up or down. Of course Thomas chose down because it’s much easier to get an escape to score the sudden death point to win it. After Moore was ready to get back to action he looked at his coach Klein who told him to let Thomas up and give up the point. This is a common strategy that allows the wrestler who gave up the point to try for a takedown to score 2 and win the match. However, Klein forgot this was sudden death and ANY point scored ended the match so when Moore indicated to the official to allow Thomas up the match was over giving Thomas a 7-6 OT win and advance to the State Championship Match.

Moore was devastated after mouthing the words “what happened” while Thomas and WF West coach Jamie Rakevich celebrated the win. Rakevich told us “we’ll take it”, and quickly said he felt bad for Moore and Coach Klein, he says that’s wrestling, you have less than 10 minutes for each match and sometimes you get caught up in the excitement and emotion and this time it literally cost Moore a potential win. Rakevich also said that even without the mistake Thomas was in good position to close out, he still would have only needed the 1-point escape to win. He added that without being in position to win a match like this we could never have taken advantage of such a mistake and gives Thomas tremendous credit for the win. Thomas will wrestle for the Championship Saturday night against East Valley of Spokane’s Logan Sundheim.

Updated: Damon was in a bit of a giving spirit himself at the beginning of the title match falling behind Sundheim 5-0 and then falling further behind and had a huge hole to try and dig out of and fell just short losing 12-11. Thomas came storming back in the final 30 seconds cutting into that deficit and with less than 10-seconds to go nearly pulled off an incredible comeback missing a chance at a 2-point take down. Sundheim who was clearly gassed held on for the win but no doubt another 10-seconds in this match may very well have seen Damon get his arm raised.

Heavyweight controversy elevates Chehalis’ Hunter Arredondo

Orting caused a stir in the 2A ranks when their top ranked heavyweight Hunter Mullins forfeited his Regional title to

teammate Kenny Marll. Mullins would end up the 2nd seed and then the seeding into the State Tournament is turned upside down because you now have a stronger participant with a higher seed. This set up a showdown with Tumwater’s Cy Hicks in the quarterfinals where Head Coach Tony Prentice was not anticipating having to face Mullins so early. Mullins rolled in the match pinning Hicks in the 1st round to advance to the Semi-Finals.

Whether or not gamesmanship was involved in the move it was no surprise the Mullins is in the Semi-Finals and remains the odds on favorite to win the Championship. But if there was gamesmanship in play it really didn’t work for the Cardinals as Marll got pinned by WF West’s Hunter Arredondo in their quarterfinal match.

“It was a complete surprise!” was the quote from Bearcat coach Jamie Rakevich. Rakevich told us that Arredondo is one of his lineman from the football team and convinced him to turn out his Jr year to stay in shape. Despite coming from a wrestling family Arredondo has never had that same passion for the sport but that may be different now. Rakevich says Arredondo wrestled a lot of JV this season and knows the basics but really has only a couple of moves.

One of those moves is a power half and he certainly turned that on Marll early in the 3rd round and got the pin. Arredondo now finds himself in the Semi-Finals and 1 win away from advancing to the Championships. He will wrestle Erik Lukner tomorrow for a chance at the title, if he can do it, he will likely be staring at Mullins across the  mat.

The Bearcats are putting a stamp on this tournament going into the final round on opening night find themselves in 3rd place 8.5 points behind Orting. Toppenish is pulling away with a 16 point lead over the Cardinals. The Bearcats have 3 others in the Semi-finals all stacked up in the middle with Damon Thomas at 138. Thomas advanced via DQ in the 1st round and then beat Jayden Fernandez of Olympic 6-0 and will face Nathan Moore of White River in the Semi’s.

Michael Matagi at 145 moved to tomorrow’s Semi-Finals against Cameron Dubos of Bremerton with a 1st round win over Cobey Vetch also of Bremerton with a pin in the 2nd round and then defeated Jack Ervien of White River in the quarters. Michael Anderson at 152 is also in the Semi-Finals after getting past Carson Northwind of Toppenish in the 1st round and then got a 3-2 win over Austin Spader of Orting.

Day 2 update:

It was a split of success on day 2 for the Bearcats. Arredondo and Thomas both advanced to the finals, the Thomas story is above, while Arredondo went to OT and pulled off another stunning win 6-4 over Sedro-Woolley’s Erik Lukner but then faced maybe the biggest favorite outside of Michael Soler from Lake Stevens in Hunter Mullins from Orting. Mullins would end the Cinderella story tournament for Arredondo with a 1st round pin but a 2nd place finish for a guy who turned out for wrestling for the first time as a junior this season and wrestled have of his matches in Junior Varisty it is a remarkable run for Arredondo.

Meantime the 2 Michael’s fell short in their Semi-final matches. Michael Anderson fell behind 6-0 in the 1st round and ended up losing 9-8 dropping him to the consolation bracket. Anderson would bounce back with 2 hard fought wins including a 3-1 win over Max Henry-Nelson of Franklin Pierce to take 3rd place at 152. At 145, Michael Matagi would lose his Semi-Final by pin to Bremerton’s Cameron Dubos. Matagi then could never get back on track dropping his next 2 matches settling for 6th place.

Centralia’s Joe Finch looking to make a splash at Mat Classic

You’d never know Centralia’s Joe Finch was one match away from wrestling for a state Championship or that this is his

1st trip to wrestle in the Classic. Finch simply goes about his business and has put in 2 solid efforts on Day 1 coming away with a win in the 1st round with a major decision 12-1 over Salvador Osorio from Toppenish. In the quarter finals Finch faced Kitrell Willingham from Washington and he ground out a hard fought 9-4 win.

Finch says he fell behind because Willingham likes to shoot a lot but he caught up with some reversals and then pulled ahead for good using the cheap tilt. He says he likes to allow a match to play out and be diverse in his style attacking at times and falling back in a defensive mode to close out matches. Finch looks to get to the Finals when he takes on Tait Stevenson of Ellensberg in the Semi’s. Finch knows he has a great opportunity especially since he beat Stevenson at the Best of the West Tournament earlier in the season.

Day 2 Update

Joe Finch made a remarkable run to the State Championship and then fell short with a heartbreaking loss to Lindbergh’s Diego Gallegos 3-1. After a scoreless 1st round and then exchanging 1-point escapes in the 2nd and 3rd round it looked like we were headed to OT when Gallegos got Finch in a takedown literally with 2-seconds left in the round and that was the difference between 1st and 2nd. Finch got to the finals with a 6-4 win over Ellensburg’s Tait Stevenson.

Blaine has solid Tournament

Blaine had 5 medalists led by the Frey brothers, Caleb Frey got to the 152 Championship but fell short taking 2nd losing to Drake Ferguson of West Valley Spokane 7-3. Frey picked up a 1st round pin and then battled to 2 decision wins to get to the Title bout. The other Frey, Anthony also had a strong showing finishing 3rd at 145 and Derreck Camba took 4th at 132, Riley Fritsch was 4th at 160 and Saul Magallon went home with 6th place at 195. The Borderites finished 6th overall in the team standings.

1A Tournament

Link to Results, Schedules and Team Standings

First Win of the Tournament

Colville’s Trevor Morrison a Freshman not only wrestled his 1st match at the State Championships, he won it by pinfall over Vashon Island’s Payton Bonaventure but he did it in just 1:16 to claim the 1st win of Mat Classic 28. It was no surprise as Morrison came in as the #1 ranked wrestler at 106 in class 1A and is ranked 7th in all classifications.

Morrison has been wrestling since he was 3 years old and has had his eye on getting to the dome for some time. Morrison says he likes the single leg as his favorite move but when Bonaventure tried to grab a leg Morrison was able to quickly roll him into a cradle for the pin and 1st win at the Classic. Morrison now wrestles Josue Lucas from Forks who advanced also with a pin in the 1st round right at the buzzer in 1:59 over Bailey Haller of Naches Valley.

Updated: Morrison continued his winning ways with another pin in the quarter finals defeating Lucas with a pin in the 2nd round at the 3:13 mark. Morrison now gets Miguel Andrade of Kiona-Benton in the Semi-Finals tomorrow morning at 10am.

Day 2 Update

Trevor picked up a 3rd pin in the Semi-Finals with a 2nd round fall over Kiona-Benton’s Miguel Andrade and then finished off his remarkable run with his 3rd 1st round pin to take the State Championship pinning Freeman’s Logan Holt in 1:18. Trevor was the 1st winner of the 2016 Mat Classic tournament and never faltered with 4 pins and the title.

1B/2B Tournament

Link to Results, Schedules and Team Standings

Rainier’s Curtis Lenz falls short of Championship Match

The Rainier Mountaineers Curtis Lenz just came up short in a physical Semi-Final match on day 2 of Mat Classic 28 but already secured no less than a 6th place medal with his 2-0 performance on Friday. Lenz advanced to the Semi-Finals with a bye in his first round and then beat Osvaldo Dominguez of Warden 10-2 in the quarterfinals.

Lenz then faced Anthony Martinez of Warden and took an early lead. Martinez would turn the tables on Lenz and ultimately get a late 3rd round pin to knock Lenz into the consolation bracket. Lenz will now wrestle for a chance at 3rd place later this afternoon.

Lewis County’s Adna Pirates bring 6 to Tourney as they build the program

Adna is better known for their successes on the traditional sports football, basketball and baseball. Recently the Pirates under Head Coach Craig Ferrier are bringing that passion to the mats. For years the program has had sporadic individual success but this year bringing 6 is quite an accomplishment. The team did not push for a team title but this experience likely lit the fire to come back and make a deeper run.

The 6 that advanced to the Dome were Aaron Slape at 126, his brother Matthew

Slape at 132 also Corbin Balzer at 132,  at 138 Braxton Dowell, Levi Becker at 145 and Tanner Fields at 160. Mathew Slape is the only one to bring home a medal finishing 4th. Mathew began with a bye then got Trevor Peterson of Tonasket in the quarterfinals. Peterson the defending State Champion would wear down Slape and post a 7-2 win then go on to defend his State Championship. In retrospect a pretty heady performance by the Freshman against a Senior defending Champ. Slape would fall into the consolation bracket and stay alive Friday night with a win over Ocosta’s Sam Quinby with a 3rd round pin. Slape then beat Chris Jones of Colfax and Tonasket’s Austin Wood before dropping to Tony Nichols of Lake Roosevelt settling for the 4th place medal.

The other 5 did not make it to the medal round but 3 others did get wins at the tournament. Dowell and Fields got 1st round wins but then fell in the quarterfinals. Dowell would then win his next match but lose a heart breaker 2-0 in OT to Darrington’s Colton Anderson coming up 1 match short of the top 8. Fields would drop 2 in a row after his opening win and Becker would get a tough fought 2-1 win before bowing out.

Despite the lack of hardware this tournament could signify a turning point with 5 of the 6 returning and more young wrestlers on the way. If the Adna program rises to a power in the future they can look at this season as a significant building block.

Mat Classic 28 Photo Gallery