Everett, Wash.
Published: Sunday, February 17, 2008

Murphy's Gee gets his title shot

Denied in football and at last year's Mat Classic, he's a runner-up at 189 pounds

By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer

 TACOMA -- When Brad Gee awoke from a few hours of restless sleep on Saturday morning, he already felt like a champion. Gee had not yet competed for a state title, or even competed in the semifinal bout in his 189-pound weight class yet, but he had something almost a valuable as a championship.

A chance.

The last two times the Archbishop Murphy High School sophomore was in line for a shot at state championships, the chance was stolen from him before he even got to suit up and compete.

"Last year, I was sitting in the stands," Gee said of the 2007 Mat Classic wrestling tournament. "This year, I'm able to come out and wrestle on the mat."

After being ruled academically ineligible for the 2007 state wrestling tournament, and being a part of the unbeaten Archbishop Murphy football team that infamously got banned from the 2007 playoffs because of a paperwork error, Gee finally got his chance on Saturday.

While Gee fell one win short of the state title, he did win his semifinal match to become the first Murphy wrestler to ever advance to the finals. Gee lost to two-time defending state champion Erich Schmidtke of Aberdeen in the 189-pound final.

Cedarcrest 171-pound senior Brady Paxman also made it to the finals of the 2A tournament before losing on Saturday night, while the same fate finished the career of Darrington senior Conner Rounds in the finals of the Class B tournament.

Gee was disappointed by his finals loss but was happy to be there.

After winning the district wrestling tournament in 2007, Gee saw his chance of competing for a state title taken away because of subpar grades. That motivated him to work harder in the classroom, and he has since pulled his grade-point average from below 2.0 to 2.5.

Gee said much of the motivation for improving his academics came from former football coach Terry Ennis, who passed away last fall after a long battle with cancer.

"Coach Ennis had a way with words," Gee said. "The thing I remember from last year, when I was dealing with my grade issues, was him looking up at me, smiling, and saying, 'Get your work up.'"

As for the recent football season -- Archbishop Murphy was stripped of its playoff berth in November after disclosing to the WIAA a minor clerical error involving a player's annual physical -- Gee said he has tried to forgive and forget.

"That whole thing, it was heartbreaking, and, yeah, there was a little resentment there," Gee said after winning a semifinal match Saturday morning, "but you have to throw it under the bridge and forget about it.

"I'm really speechless about it, to tell the truth. A couple of months ago, it was ripped out of our hands, and now I have a chance to do something about it."

A few hours later, he lost to Schmidtke 19-4 in the finals of the 2A tournament.

Of the local small-school competitors, only Tulalip Heritage 103-pounder Demitri Robinson was able to secure a state title Saturday.

Cedarcrest's Paxman joined Gee as a state runner-up when he got pinned by defending champion Ryan Desroches of Chattaroy-Riverside in Saturday night's final. Paxman suffered a serious rib injury in the morning semifinal but opted to wrestle in the championship anyway.

Darrington's Rounds had to endure a wait of more than 24 hours after winning a semifinal Friday evening. He returned to the mat for the final at 8:30 p.m. Saturday but lost 5-1 to Reardon's Rory Beckstrom.

Darrington (Rounds and 119-pound Johnny Loghnan, third) had a pair of wrestlers place in the B classification Cedarcrest (Paxman and 125-pound Ty Howard, third), Archbishop Murphy (Gee and 215-pound Zeke Evers, eighth), South Whidbey (160-pound James Schorr, seventh, and heavyweight Trapper Rawls, fourth) and Sultan (130-pound Mikey Varnell, sixth, and 152-pound Abe Bray, fifth) all had two place-winners in the 2A tournament.

Lake Stevens (103-pound JoMae Alewine, fourth, and 130-pound Natasha Grow, fourth) had two place winners in the girls tournament.

Cedarcrest's Howard (40-4) rebounded from a second-round upset with four consecutive wins, including a 6-2 victory in the third-place match. Darrington's Loughnan (25-3) recorded back-to-back pins to finish third in the 119-pound weight class of the B tournament.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA