Prep Wrestling Preview: Gee is an impact athlete

Published 11:48 pm Friday, December 5, 2008

Like the homegrown hero returning to his roots, Brad Gee has come home.

OK, so maybe he isn’t a hero just yet, but guessing by his performance in the Stilly Cup — Stanwood and Arlington’s annual football battle in which Gee rushed 34 times for 226 yards and three touchdowns to lead Stanwood to a 48-39 victory — Gee is well on his way.

“It was really big. It’s not like a lot of people can go out and have those kinds of games. It was a blessing to complete something like that,” Gee said of his Stilly Cup performance.

Citing family “financial stuff” as the primary reason for his transfer from Class 2A Archbishop Murphy to Class 4A Stanwood, the Stanwood native and ex-Wildcat has not struggled a bit in transitioning from small school to big school.

After having to sit out the first five games of the football season for eligibility reasons, the junior joined the Spartan football team and immediately made an impact, rushing for 791 yards and nine touchdowns in just five games.

It was that type of performance that earned Gee All-Wesco North first-team honors as a running back and All-Wesco North second-team honors as an inside linebacker, recognition that surprised Gee.

“It felt really good considering the amount of games that I played. I didn’t think it was going to be like that,” Gee said.

And though it was hard to watch his ex-teammates and friends on the Wildcat football team march through a perfect regular season before finally falling in the Class 2A semifinals, the junior is ready to turn his focus and carry the success he had on the football field to inside the gym and onto the wrestling mats.

“Wrestling will always be my one-love sport,” Gee said.

As a sophomore for Archbishop Murphy, Gee posted a 34-3 record and finished second in Class 2A in the 189-pound weight class, losing in the finals to two-time state champion Erich Schmidtke of Aberdeen.

It was the best finish in school history for an Archbishop Murphy wrestler.

“It’s just one of those things I can look back on and say ‘Wow,’” Gee said of his second-place finish.

This year the competition will be tougher as he’ll face opponents from perhaps the strongest 4A district in the state, including Wesco North competition that will come from back-to-back 4A state champion and perennial powerhouse Lake Stevens, Snohomish (currently ranked No. 3 in the preseason rankings by Dave Gilbertson of the Washington Wrestling Report), Arlington (No. 5) and 3A fifth-place finisher Everett.

“Moving up to 4A the competition gets bigger … competition gets higher because there are more kids,” said Gee, who is ranked No. 2 at 189 pounds in the preseason 4A rankings.

Gee will face tough competition right away when he takes on Reid Chivers of Lakeside-9 Mile Falls in a preseason tournament at Spokane.

“I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a long time since we’ve wrestled, I can’t wait. It will show me how I’ve been doing,” Gee said of the bout with Chivers, a junior ranked No. 1 overall in the 189 weight class who has won state titles the past two seasons in the Class 1A tournament.

One person that is glad to have Gee on his side is Stanwood head coach Ray Mather, who coached Gee when he was in middle school.

“He’s definitely a front-runner. Once he gets up against some of the guys we’ll see how he transitions. I’m not worried about it. It will be a challenge for him with competition day in and day out,” Mather said.

Mather believes that Gee has all the talent to get back to the Mat Classic and perhaps reach the goal that eluded him last season — a state title.

“He’s got all the things you can’t coach — strength and smartness — his technique is one of the things were working on. He’s doing a great job so far. He’s a nice piece of the pie,” Mather said of his new star wrestler.

A Stilly Cup victory, a possible wrestling state title … maybe homegrown hero isn’t that far off after all.