TACOMA — Mat Classic was a bit of a mixed bag for the Sultan Turks, who entered the weekend with 15 wrestlers in the tournament field and team title aspirations.
It didn’t quite come out that way for coach Garth MacDicken’s bunch, but the Turks will leave Tacoma with seven state placers and a seventh-place team finish, the best result for Sultan since the 1991-92 season.
“We have plenty to be very proud of,” MacDicken said. “We set a record for the most state placers in one season in school history, but the coaches and the kids know that there’s another step we can take. We’ve gotten in the top 10, and now we want to get in the top five and compete for a team title. The potential is there for all of it.”
Of the Turks’ seven placers, four will be back next season. That group is led by sophomore Jamell Carroll and junior Cory Martinez, both of whom finished third on Saturday after one-point losses in their semifinal bouts.
“We talk all the time about how at the state tournament, you’re going to be in those one-point matches,” MacDicken said. “You have to find a way to win those, and we won some and lost some.”
Martinez was leading Montesano’s Austin Cain by four points in the third period, but got caught on his back. The move turned into a two-point takedown and three-point near fall for Cain, who won the match 8-7.
Carroll dropped a 2-1 decision to Granger’s Adrian Morales, and the persistent nosebleeds that plagued him all weekend prevented him from getting into any kind of offensive rhythm.
MacDicken would like to see Carroll continue to make strides in asserting himself offensively. The sophomore, a running back and linebacker on Sultan’s football team, has a chiseled physique and is very difficult for wrestling opponents to move. If he becomes more explosive with his shots, watch out.
Both wrestlers rebounded from their semifinal losses to win in the consolation finals to take third place.
MacDicken lamented the graduation of the five seniors who made the trip this weekend, but stressed the importance of their role in bringing Sultan wrestling back to prominence.
“They’ve come up through the middle school program with (varsity assistant David) Belcher and I, and in this sport you develop really strong bonds with the kids, more so than in the other sports I coach,” he said. “That group has been really fun to work with and has laid a foundation for us to build on.”
Class 2A
Cedarcrest’s Parker McBride finished eighth at 113 pounds, and stood as the lone individual placer from the Cascade Conference this weekend.
McBride dropped a consolation match to Black Hills’ Chander Rosalin 8-6, and then lost to Port Angeles’ Ben Basden in the seventh/eighth place match.
McBride beat Basden in his opening match at the tournament on Friday morning.
Class 4A
In pulling out a late 4-2 decision over Evergreen Vancouver’s Dallas Goodpaster in the 220-pound final, Snohomish’s Alex Fairhurst became the first Panther state champion since Sam Ottow and Stefan St. Marie both accomplished the feat in 2009.
Fairhurst, who finished seventh a year ago here, earned a reversal with 30 seconds remaining on the clock to break a 2-2 tie.
“It’s an indescribable feeling. All the work of the last four years has paid off,” he said. “I just felt like the other kid was dying there at the end, and that gave me the push I needed to finish it out.”
Class 2B/1B
Darrington junior Mason McKenzie earned his second state championship in as many years at 220 pounds, exacting some revenge on Toledo’s Dalton Yoder, who defeated McKenzie 3-1 in the regional final.
McKenzie won 11-5 on Saturday, and credits time spent with Burke Barnes’ Pin City Wrestling Club in Lake Stevens with allowing him to sharpen his skills against the best wrestlers in the region.
“I wrestled Greco and freestyle with them, and I wrestled against the guys who were the 4A and 3A runners-up here with them,” McKenzie said. “I wouldn’t be where I am if I didn’t go there.”
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