Three wrestlers place at Mat Classic
Eddie Bush (119 lbs), Maxx Simonet (140 lbs) and Lukas Wolff (152 lbs) all came away from this year's Matt Classic in the Tacoma Dome with trophy finishes. Eddie Bush placed sixth, Maxx Simonet placed fifth and Lukas Wolff placed fifth. Not bad out of 16 wrestlers in each weight division.
Eddie Bush, Maxx Simonet and Lukas Wolff end wrestling season with trophies from the State Tournament
By Richard Uhlhorn
The annual Matt Classic which takes place in the Tacoma Dome each year was a pretty exciting place to be for wrestling fans, parents, wrestlers and others as 896 wrestlers battled for the state championship in four school classifications.
In the 2A classification alone, there were 224 wrestlers competing in 14 weight classifications. At this level, wrestlers are competing against the 16 best wrestlers in each weight class this state has to offer after a tough wrestling season.
Six wrestlers from Chelan made it out of the Regional Tournament with the right to go against the best in Tacoma. Along with the three placers, Tate Collins (160 lbs), Chase Hodge (215 lbs) and Anthony Gervais (215 lbs) all did battle on the matt.
Tate Collins, who was unable to even begin wrestling until December because of an injury, qualified for the state tournament in one of the toughest weight classes in wrestling. He faced off against John Millard of Lakeside in his first match and was defeated by fall in 1:37. This pushed him into the losers bracket and he wrestled an exciting match against Dustin Praxedes of Klahowya which he lost 8-6.
Chase Hodge faced off against Nick Mahugh of Colville and found himself in an immediate fall position, losing the match in a mere 34 seconds by pin. Hodge went on to face CJ Moen of Klahowya and won that match by fall in 3:33. This put him up against Dan Worley of Cashmere again and he ended up losing that match 12-1. "It was a great experience," said Hodge. "I started wrestling last year and made this meet. The same thing happened to me this year, but it was great fun."
Anthony Gervais wrestled Eric Burrows of Chewelah in his first match losing the decision to Burrows 9-0. Gervais went on to wrestle Izzy Torres of Nooksack in his second match, losing it by a 9-4 decision. Gervais is a young wrestler who will be back next year.
At 119 pounds, Eddie Bush had been a team leader all year long. Reaching the state tournament with expectations to place very high was on Bush's mind as he faced off against Sam Larson of Nooksack in his first match. Bush had a tough match, but was able to win that decision 10-7. He then faced Mt. Baker's Brandon Montheith, losing to him 11-2. After the match, Coach Gleasman said, "You can't get sloppy here. It's a different story when you reach this level."
Eddie then faced his old nemesis, Othello's Don Cantu. Bush defeated Cantu in the Regional meet 12-10. On Saturday, with fifth and sixth up for grabs, these two wrestlers battled a tough match.
At the end of the first round it was still 0-0. In the second round, Cantu scored on a takedown to take the lead 2-0, but Bush came back with a reversal to tie the match at 2-2. That's where regulation ended at the end of the third round. In overtime, both wrestlers tried to score first. It was Cantu who ended up with the takedown ending the match 4-2 in his favor. In overtime the first wrestler to score is the winner. This gave Eddie a sixth place finish.
Maxx Simonet wrestled extremely well, winning his first two matches. He defeated Tim Meyers of Mt. Baker by pin in 36 seconds of his first match. Against Blaine's Calvin Moore, Simonet scored a 5-3 decision. Unfortunately, the higher up you go in the bracket, the tougher it gets. Wrestling for the right to become state champion is tough. Maxx ended up losing a tough battle against Torrin Bradbury of Montesano in a 6-1 decision.
Simonet faced Ray Hodge of Riverside in his third match, losing it by decision 5-3. It was a tough match where he had trouble getting a point until the third period when he got a three point near fall on Hodge. It was a tough loss that put Simonet into the battle for fifth and sixth.
Maxx and George Matranga of Rochester wrestled hard with Simonet winning a very tough decision 17-13. It was a match that both Coaches Gleasman and McGuffin argued several referee calls.
Lukas Wolff lost his first match to Micah Sohl of Vashon by fall in 3:54. Wolff then went on to wrestle Ricky Monroe of Montesano, winning that match 14-9. He then pinned Anthony Chapin of Kiona-Benton in 3:49.
On Saturday, Lukas faced Russel Luellen of Elma and won that decision 14-3, which put him against Jake Horsmon of Mt. Baker. Horsmon turned out to be a tough customer winning the decision 7-1. Wolff finally won fifth place by defeating Brad Groce of Medical Lake by a 6-4 decision to take fifth place.
At the end of the day, Gleasman said he was happy. "I would have liked better results, but that's state. Everybody battled hard. I can't fault that."
2-20: State wrestling results
