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With a roster flexibility afforded by four returning Class 2A-1A West Region champs, the Lions are looking to overcome a short roster of 17 grapplers by attacking their opponent’ s lineup.
So junior Tyler White, who was fifth at the state meet at 135 pounds, is now wrestling the season at 140 or 145. His twin brother, Zach White, took third in the state at 140. This year, he’s taking on the 145 and 152 classes. Senior C.J. Cotterman was fifth at 119 last year, but will be at 125 or 130 this year.
Even senior Jordan Walsh, the 2007 state champion at 171, might stray from his 189-pound class this season.
Head coach Ralph Cotterman is focusing in on winning more dual meets, something that requires more than just four high-caliber wrestlers.
‘‘When that disc gets flipped and the captains go out and pick, it’s either odd or even,” Cotterman said. ‘‘A lot of matches are won by a flip of a coin.”
What the Lions are trying to improve on is a 16-3 record, which including close losses to Howard County champ Glenelg, Urbana and Middletown.
And they’ll do it with an impressive schedule, which includes those three previous opponents, Southern-Garrett and South Carroll.
‘‘We have a pretty good schedule this year,” Cotterman said.
The Lions are fairly locked in with the lightweights. Freshman Kyle Snyder is in at 103. At 112, junior Dana Cooley marks one of the first female wrestlers for Walkersville. She is a multi-year veteran of the Glade Valley Athletic Association, but this will be her first high school season.
Junior Chris Stauffer moves up to 119 this year, after working at 112. The 125 and 130 spots include one forced forfeit for the Lions, as Cotterman is currently the only wrestler available at either class.
Senior Sam Conrad (135) and junior Clinton Holley (171) worked their way up through the junior varsity ranks for starting roles.
Junior Taylor Alexander provides flexibility for the White twins, wrestling at 145 or 152.
At 160, sophomore Marc Nielson is a returning starter with high expectations for the season.
Then the Lions start a shuffle in the heavyweights. Walsh provides the most dangerous threat to opposing wrestlers, but will be matched up against the toughest opponent possible.
Senior Kyle Harper is the normal 215-pounder. A returning starter, he can bump up to heavyweight if Walsh moves up to 215.
There’s more options at heavyweight, including senior Will Scarff, who can wrestle as low at 189 if Walsh wrestles up in weight class.
Sophomore Tim Garlington got in some matches last year, and senior Kelvin Diaz will add to the mix at heavyweight
LAHAINA –12/13/07
 Baldwin’s
Piikea Kalalau won a state championship last year |
Two of the toughest high school wrestling teams in Oregon, and for the first time a team from Canada, will compete in the 32nd annual Maui Invitational Tournament on Friday and Saturday at the Lahaina Civic Center.
Tillamook and Estacada high schools will
join St. Thomas More of Vancouver, British Columbia, and teams from 27 Hawaii
schools.
Tillamook was the Oregon runner-up in the 4A division last season, and
returns most of the team, including two state champions – Dustin Woosley at 130
pounds and Bubba Owens at 285. Owens, a high school All-American, recently
committed to Oregon State.
“We’re ranked number one and return a bunch of kids that placed in the state
tournament,’’ said Cheesemakers coach Lonnie Eggert. “The kids are excited.
They’re ready to wrestle. Most of them hardly leave the state of Oregon. This is
a big thing for them.’’
It’s also a big thing for Estacada.
’We have 10 kids here that have never been out of the state of Oregon,’’ said
Rangers coach Heath Stalcup. “We have tough kids from old logging families.
“We have a lot of tradition in the state of Oregon. We’re definitely looking
forward to competing and having a fun time.’’
Stalcup’s toughest wrestler is his son Joel, ranked No. 1 in the state at
145.
“We have six kids who could be in the running for a state title,’’ Heath
Stalcup said. “The only problem is Tillamook has a great team, they are
definitely the team to beat. But I think we have a shot to beat them.’’
St. Thomas More also has a strong wrestling tradition according to the team’s
coach, Doug Corbett.
“We’ve been in the top five at the provincial championships for the last six
years in girls, and for the past three years in boys,’’ he said.
The Knights have three provincial champions – Tessa Ma at girls 108, Laura
Gordon at girls 125 and Miguel de Sousa at boys 125.
“We’re pretty keen to be here, it’s a nice change from the weather in
Vancouver,’’ Corbett said. “It’s a good change to wrestle a different style and
see Americans wrestle. It’s totally different than what we’re used to.’’
All the high schools in Canada wrestle freestyle, an Olympic style of
wrestling. In the U.S., the high schools wrestle folkstyle.
“We’ve trained for a little while with it,’’ Corbett said. “Our local
college, Simon Fraser, competes in that style. Their coach gave us a couple of
sessions. Bare bones, wrestling is wrestling, if you pin them, you pin them. The
kids are looking forward to it, and I’m looking forward to it, too.’’
The Maui Interscholastic League’s marquee wrestlers include two-time state
champion Travis Okano of Lahainaluna, and defending state champion Piikea
Kalalau of Baldwin. Another returning MIL state champion, Lahainaluna’s Lake
Casco, just started to practice this week because of the Lunas’ run to the
Division II state football finals
Okano, who is seeking to become the Lunas’ first three-time state champion,
will compete at 130, which means he could meet Woosley in the finals.
“Hopefully we will see a great battle between Travis and Tillamook’s state
champion,’’ said Lahainaluna coach Todd Hayase. “Hopefully they will meet. If
there is one match I was hoping to see, it will be that one.’’
Hayase doesn’t believe his team, the two-time defending MIL champion, will be
in the title hunt – yet.
“Because of the success of the Lunas football program, some of our top
wrestlers aren’t competing. Casco, (Jared) Panlasigui, (Cole) Loewen won’t be
wrestling, just to name a few.’’
“But I think what’s going to be exciting are these two teams from Oregon. It
will be interesting to see St. Thomas and how they adjust to folkstyle.’’
Iolani is one of the top Neighbor Islands teams at the meet.
“We like coming every year,’’ said coach Yoshi Honda. “We want to see the
Maui competition, and don’t want to wait until the state tournament in a
quarterfinal or semifinal match to see them. Plus it’s a great bonding
experience and brings our team closer together.’’
Honda’s top wrestlers include two girls state champions – Keiko Akamine at
103 and Megan Morisada at 114.
“We have one of the stronger girls teams in the state,’’ Honda said. “They’ve
come a long way and held up the Iolani tradition that the boys have had for many
years.’’
The other Oahu schools in the field are Aiea, Damien, Kailua, Kaiser, Kalani,
Kapolei, Mililani, Pearl City and Waianae. The Big Island will be represented by
Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Hilo, Honokaa, Kealakehe, Konawaena and Pahoa.
First-round action starts at noon on Friday and will continue all day.
Wrestling will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday with the finals slated for 6
p.m.
BLAINE — Blaine 285-pound wrestler Cody Dobbs said he couldn’t help but be motivated Wednesday by his year-old memory of “probably the worst I’ve felt in my life.”
For the second time in two years Dobbs found himself in the final match of the night with the outcome of the dual meet resting on his shoulders. Dobbs came through with a comeback victory to preserve undefeated Blaine’s 38-29 win over Ferndale on Wednesday.
It was nice redemption for Dobbs after he found himself in
“Our match against Bellingham was tied at 33 last year when I lost in the last match,” he said. “I told myself I never wanted to feel like that again.”
On Wednesday, Dobbs and Ferndale junior Andrew Nelson were tied 4-4 when the memory really kicked in for Dobbs. The result: so many moves in the second and third periods that he earned 16 more points and claimed a 20-5 technical fall, worth five points.
“Shane Hicks told me, ‘If you lose, don’t come back to the wrestling room,’ ” Dobbs said with a laugh. “Just a little highpressure motivation.”
“Actually, I wasn’t really worried about Cody,” said Blaine captain Hicks, who improved his overall record to 9-1 with a second-round pin over Tyler Mustappa at 215. “I have a lot of confidence in him.”
Hicks, fourth at state last year, gave the Borderites (5-0) a 33-29 lead immediately after Ferndale junior Ryan Nelson provided the Golden Eagles with a 29-27 advantage with a wellcontested 9-5 win over Darrell Price, Jr.
“What I liked the most was how much fun the match was,” Blaine coach Craig Foster said. “There were no forfeits by either team, and the score went back and forth. It was just a great match.”
“Both teams are up and coming,” said first-year coach Erick Stevens of Ferndale (4-2).
Of the 28 wrestlers who competed, only seven are seniors.
The wildest match of the night was Blaine freshman Kelton Nix’s 16-14 victory over Ferndale freshman Jade Mustappa. Nix broke a 14-14 tie with a twopoint move in the final 30 seconds.
“We’re hoping to get Jade to the state girls’ meet,” Stevens said. “I’m impressed with how much she just loves wrestling. We don’t cut her any slack, and she’s always asking what she can do to improve.”
“She’s tough,” Foster said. “I look forward to seeing what she can do at state.”
Two-time state medal winner Jacob Humphrey, a Blaine junior, scored a third-round pin at 125 over Ferndale sophomore Dylan Krenz, who went to state as a freshman. Humphrey led 6-1 at the time of his pin.
Blaine junior Tyson Foster turned the match around with a pin at 140, and teammate Jesse Kilthau showed why he has been to state three times while scoring a first-round pin at 145, putting the Borderites ahead for the first time at 24-18.
Blaine’s other highlights were a 9-3 victory by Jamal Mallak (135) and a 3-2 win by Jeremy Holdaas (171).
Ferndale sophomore Micah Johnson (103), freshman Jack Johnson (119) and senior state meet medal winner Jason Reiser (130) all scored pins. They were followed by sophomore teammate Tristan Greig’s 21-6 victory, worth five points at 152, and sophomore Pedro Mungarro’s 3- 0 win at 160 over Blaine’s Shaffer Hicks in one of the best matches of the night.
Competing at the 2008 Olympics might actually be a little easier for wrestler Jessi Bondy than qualifying to represent Canada in Beijing.
At the team trials this weekend in Etobicoke, Bondy's first challenge is to win a pool tournament featuring four other wrestlers at 55 kilograms.
If she survives that, she joins the field's top three seeds in a step ladder final.
The top seed is Tonya Verbeek, the Olympic silver medallist in 2004. The second seed, Brittanee Laverdure, was fifth at the 2007 world championships at 59 kilograms and the third seed, Andrea Ross, has carved a niche at 53 kilograms.
Because Olympic wrestling offers only three weight classes for women, Laverdure cut weight to compete at 55 kilograms.
Bondy moved up from her more familiar 51 kilograms.
"I'll be a little smaller than some people but it won't be too bad," she said Wednesday. "At least I'll be completely fresh. I won't be tired from trying to cut weight (right before the competition)."
A CIS silver medallist at 51 kilograms, Bondy debated whether or not to bother with the Olympic trials because they didn't offer her weight class.
"You never know what can happen," she said. "You just don't know. Tonya is technically better than me but I think I have a chance of beating everyone else."
That would leave her as Canada's Olympic alternate in the event of injury to Verbeek.
"I feel good. I feel ready," she said. "Even if I came in second, I'd still be somewhat satisfied with that."
Other local wrestlers competing in Etobicoke are David Tremblay (55 kilograms), Colin Daynes, (74 kilograms, Greco Roman) and Corey Lee (84 kilograms, Greco Roman).