Published: Saturday, February 7, 2009
Marysville-Pilchuck High wrestler just glad to be in tournament
Not long ago, senior Ryan Mead was hospitalized, wrestling with a rare disorder. He battled his way back to the mat and focused on contributing what he could to the Tomahawks wrestling team.
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Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald
Marysville-Pilchuck's Ryan Mead (top) makes a move on Cascade's Travis Hjort during Friday night's district meet. Mead later pinned Hjort. However, Mead, who lost his opening-round match, lost again in his third match of the night and was eliminated.
MARYSVILLE -- Less than a month ago Ryan Mead was in a hospital bed fighting a rare disorder he had never heard of.
Blisters ravaged his whole body. His tongue and throat were so swollen he couldn't eat. His eyes were swollen shut.
But on Friday at the Class 4A District 1 Wrestling Tournament, Mead competed. Wrestling in his home gym, the Marysville-Pilchuck High School senior salvaged what he could from a season derailed by bad luck.
"It's not what it could have been," Mead said after losing his first-round match against a Stanwood foe, "but it's not about me now. It's about everybody else. It's about Tomahawk wrestling."
It's a miracle, one could argue, that Mead returned to the mat at all. Mead pinned his second opponent Friday, but then lost a loser-out match, ending his season.
The district tournament wraps up today with wrestling beginning at 11 a.m. Finals will start at approximately 4:30 p.m. The top seven finishers in each weight division qualify for the regional tournament Feb. 13-14 at Snohomish High. Eighth-place district finishers will be regional alternates.
While the tournament continues without Mead, it's remarkable he even got there. In late December, he developed pneumonia and went to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett on Dec. 27. It turned out to be the first of three emergency-room visits in four days. On New Year's Day, he went back to Providence and stayed 12 days.
The reason: Mead's body had a severe allergic reaction to the medication he received for pneumonia. Known as Stevens-Johnson syndrome, it caused painful blisters all over Mead's body; extreme swelling made his eyes and mouth useless. He couldn't eat solid food for two weeks and lost about 28 pounds, dropping from 167 pounds to 139.
Previously voted a captain by teammates, an extremely frail, blistered Mead finally went home Jan. 12. He was determined to wrestle. It gave him something positive to focus on, said Lindsay Mead, Ryan's dad.
"I don't think it was ever a question (that Ryan would wrestle again). If he could go, he would go," Lindsay Mead said.
At first just walking up the stairs to M-P's wrestling room to watch practice was exhausting for Ryan Mead. He slowly resumed activity, gradually progressed and last week returned to action, winning a junior-varsity match against Stanwood.
"It (is) my senior season," Mead said, "and I was captain. I wanted to go out and show (teammates) what they can do if they keep trying."
Mead, who played outside linebacker for M-P's division-champion football team, weighs 153 pounds, 14 less than he weighed in early December. His stamina and strength are a shadow of what they were, yet he pushed on.
"His energy isn't there but he still has a lot of heart," M-P wrestling coach Craig Iversen said.
Compared to what he endured a month ago, Mead is on top of the world.
"I'm relieved. I'm ecstatic," he said. "I'm so glad to be back out here."
At Marysville-Pilchuck H.S.
Today's schedule: Wrestling begins at 11 a.m. (four mats). Finals begin at approximately 4:30 p.m. (four mats).
Team scores through day one.
1. Lake Stevens 229.5, 2. Snohomish 202, 3. Edmonds-Woodway 152.5, 4. Kamiak 141, 5. Arlington 124.5, 6. Marysville-Pilchuck 115.5, 7. Mariner 109.5, 8. Stanwood 107, 9. Oak Harbor 105.5, 10. Monroe 75.5, 11. Shorewood 68.5, 12. Cascade 63.5, 13. Jackson 59, 14. Mountlake Terrace 38.
At Marysville-Pilchuck H.S.
Today's schedule: Wrestling begins at 11 a.m. (four mats). Finals begin at approximately 4:30 p.m. (four mats).
Team scores through day one.
1. Lake Stevens 229.5, 2. Snohomish 202, 3. Edmonds-Woodway 152.5, 4. Kamiak 141, 5. Arlington 124.5, 6. Marysville-Pilchuck 115.5, 7. Mariner 109.5, 8. Stanwood 107, 9. Oak Harbor 105.5, 10. Monroe 75.5, 11. Shorewood 68.5, 12. Cascade 63.5, 13. Jackson 59, 14. Mountlake Terrace 38.
Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
Blisters ravaged his whole body. His tongue and throat were so swollen he couldn't eat. His eyes were swollen shut.
But on Friday at the Class 4A District 1 Wrestling Tournament, Mead competed. Wrestling in his home gym, the Marysville-Pilchuck High School senior salvaged what he could from a season derailed by bad luck.
"It's not what it could have been," Mead said after losing his first-round match against a Stanwood foe, "but it's not about me now. It's about everybody else. It's about Tomahawk wrestling."
It's a miracle, one could argue, that Mead returned to the mat at all. Mead pinned his second opponent Friday, but then lost a loser-out match, ending his season.
The district tournament wraps up today with wrestling beginning at 11 a.m. Finals will start at approximately 4:30 p.m. The top seven finishers in each weight division qualify for the regional tournament Feb. 13-14 at Snohomish High. Eighth-place district finishers will be regional alternates.
While the tournament continues without Mead, it's remarkable he even got there. In late December, he developed pneumonia and went to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett on Dec. 27. It turned out to be the first of three emergency-room visits in four days. On New Year's Day, he went back to Providence and stayed 12 days.
The reason: Mead's body had a severe allergic reaction to the medication he received for pneumonia. Known as Stevens-Johnson syndrome, it caused painful blisters all over Mead's body; extreme swelling made his eyes and mouth useless. He couldn't eat solid food for two weeks and lost about 28 pounds, dropping from 167 pounds to 139.
Previously voted a captain by teammates, an extremely frail, blistered Mead finally went home Jan. 12. He was determined to wrestle. It gave him something positive to focus on, said Lindsay Mead, Ryan's dad.
"I don't think it was ever a question (that Ryan would wrestle again). If he could go, he would go," Lindsay Mead said.
At first just walking up the stairs to M-P's wrestling room to watch practice was exhausting for Ryan Mead. He slowly resumed activity, gradually progressed and last week returned to action, winning a junior-varsity match against Stanwood.
"It (is) my senior season," Mead said, "and I was captain. I wanted to go out and show (teammates) what they can do if they keep trying."
Mead, who played outside linebacker for M-P's division-champion football team, weighs 153 pounds, 14 less than he weighed in early December. His stamina and strength are a shadow of what they were, yet he pushed on.
"His energy isn't there but he still has a lot of heart," M-P wrestling coach Craig Iversen said.
Compared to what he endured a month ago, Mead is on top of the world.
"I'm relieved. I'm ecstatic," he said. "I'm so glad to be back out here."
At Marysville-Pilchuck H.S.
Today's schedule: Wrestling begins at 11 a.m. (four mats). Finals begin at approximately 4:30 p.m. (four mats).
Team scores through day one.
1. Lake Stevens 229.5, 2. Snohomish 202, 3. Edmonds-Woodway 152.5, 4. Kamiak 141, 5. Arlington 124.5, 6. Marysville-Pilchuck 115.5, 7. Mariner 109.5, 8. Stanwood 107, 9. Oak Harbor 105.5, 10. Monroe 75.5, 11. Shorewood 68.5, 12. Cascade 63.5, 13. Jackson 59, 14. Mountlake Terrace 38.
At Marysville-Pilchuck H.S.
Today's schedule: Wrestling begins at 11 a.m. (four mats). Finals begin at approximately 4:30 p.m. (four mats).
Team scores through day one.
1. Lake Stevens 229.5, 2. Snohomish 202, 3. Edmonds-Woodway 152.5, 4. Kamiak 141, 5. Arlington 124.5, 6. Marysville-Pilchuck 115.5, 7. Mariner 109.5, 8. Stanwood 107, 9. Oak Harbor 105.5, 10. Monroe 75.5, 11. Shorewood 68.5, 12. Cascade 63.5, 13. Jackson 59, 14. Mountlake Terrace 38.
Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
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