A senior will get one more chance at a state wrestling title and some younger team members get to know what Mat Classic XXVIII is all about.
Two Medical Lake wrestlers, senior Nick Reed at 113 pounds and freshman Justin Warnick in the 120-pound class, each earned trips to the Tacoma Dome following last Saturday’s 1A regionals at Colville.
Additionally, freshmen Weston Thomas, who wrestled at 106, will tag along as an alternate, but freshman Isaiah Schlosser at 185, just missed out.
Deer Park won the team title with 241 points, followed by Colville at 214 and defending state champ Freeman, 196. Medical Lake earned 54 points in the tournament that featured schools from the Caribou Trail League in Central Washington.
Reed, who won his opening match, but lost in round two, had to wrestle his way back in the consolation bracket. His fall over Lakeside’s Christen Cartier earned him third place.
“Nick Reed has been coming through all year,” head coach Josh Edmondson said. “I’m looking forward to getting him on the podium.”
Warnick also had to wrestle his way back through the consolation bracket following a first-round defeat. He lost to Andrew Smith in the battle for third.
Thomas too lost in round one, and went two rounds in the consolation bracket losing to Joe Edwards of Deer Park 6-5.
“Weston had a heartbreaking match against Edwards,” Edmondson said. “It came down to the last round, the last couple of seconds. It’s called the heartbreak round because you’re either going to state or you’re not.”
Schlosser, a rarity as a freshman at the heavier weights, also lost in a round-one match and was ousted by Maverick Walker of Colville in a fall.
As a 195-pound freshman there’s an intimidating factor present. “Everybody else you’re wrestling is a 195-pound brute,” Edmondson said. “I’m scared to wrestle a couple of those guys.”
Edmondson said he was especially happy with how everyone competed throughout the whole season amidst a number of challenges, the most recent the sudden passing of former wrestler Ricky Petersen.
Edmondson went to the state finals three straight years starting as a sophomore where he finished third. He won as a junior and was third, losing in overtime, as a senior. He knows what it’s all about to wrestle in the Tacoma Dome.
“I remember going there and standing on the mat on the floor and looking up, turning in full circle and being in awe of all the people that were there,” Edmondson said.
He will tell his wrestlers to get to the arena early and get those butterflies out and “Remember, we’re here to do a job.”
As for Reed, Edmondson’s message was “Leave everything out on the mat because you don’t want any regrets at the end of it.”
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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