Injury prevents Murphy’s Wade from defending his title

Published 10:33 pm Friday, February 18, 2011

TACOMA — Cam Wade’s dreams of a repeat championship came to an abrupt and violent end at the Tacoma Dome Friday evening.

Wade, a senior at Archbishop Murphy, lost by injury default in the 145-pound quarterfinals after a collision of heads resulted in a broken nose and perhaps oth

er injuries.

In the first round, with Wade holding the lead, he and his opponent, Othello’s Eddie Garza, both tried to attack at the same time and butted heads, and after briefly attempting to continue, Wade fell to his back in obvious pain.

Wildcats coach Blaine Smith said Wade had a broken nose and went to a nearby hospital to have X-rays to determine if he had other facial fractures. It was hardly the ending anyone saw coming for Wade, who is the defending Class 2A state champ at 145 pounds.

“It’s awful,” Smith said. “That’s life for you though. That’s how wrestling can be sometimes. You never know. He did win a state championship last year, he got that experience.”

After Wade’s coaches indicated to the referee that he would not be able to continue, Garza was named the winner, though it was obvious he took little joy in winning in such a manner.

“It was just a fluky thing, nothing malicious at all,” Smith said. “The other kid was a real good sport about it. You could tell he felt bad winning like that.’

A costly bye for Lake Stevens?

No one showed up to wrestle Jack Reeves in the first round of the 4A state wrestling tournament on Friday morning. The good news for Reeves: the Lake Stevens High School senior advanced with a bye in the 145-pound division and later won with a pin in the quarterfinals to advance to today’s semifinals.

The bad news for Reeves’ team: the first-round bye prevented Reeves from earning as many as two team bonus points, which he would have received for winning by pin instead of a bye.

In first place after Day 1 of the tournament, top-ranked Lake Stevens (67.5 points) takes a 5.5-point lead over second-ranked Moses Lake into today’s final sessions.

“If it comes down to one point (in Moses Lake’s favor),” Lake Stevens coach Brent Barnes said, “that (bye) hurts big time.”

Stanwood girls excel

The Stanwood girls wrestling team came to Tacoma with only four wrestlers, but still harbored hopes of a top-5 finish. That goal remained alive Friday night even after the Spartans were forced to start the tournament with only three participants. Senior Kalina Eveland aggravated a rib injury while warming up and had to withdraw. X-rays later showed that Eveland had a broken rib.

In Eveland’s absence, however, Stanwood’s other three wrestlers — Casey Mather, Whitney Weinert and Laura Charboneau — stepped up in a big way, advancing to the semifinals to put the Spartans into fifth place heading into the final day. The four teams ahead of Stanwood — Sedro-Woolley, Warden, Mt. Baker and Kelso — all have seven or more wrestlers, and while Sedro-Woolley is running away with the team title, Stanwood is within striking distance of the other three despite a big disadvantage in numbers.

“We work really hard,” said Weinert, a senior at 135 pounds. “We work out with the boys, our program’s all about being tough. Watching my teammates do really well, it pushes me. It gives me something to live up to.”

Mather, a junior who has been battling illness all week, was the first Spartan to advance, winning both matches at 103 pounds, and was soon joined by Weinert. Charboneau capped the near-perfect evening by winning her second match at 285 pounds.

“It’s awesome sharing it with Casey and Whitney,” Charboneau said.

“They’ve all been working hard,” added Stanwood coach Bruce VanScoy. “We push them to do their best. We’re definitely hopeful as coaches that they can all be in the finals; we know theyre capable of that. But we dont focus on, you need to get in the final. We focus on doing your best in each match.”

Overcoming the T-Dome’s distractions

After going 0-2 last year at Mat Classic, Mariner’s Alex Coffman returned to state on Friday and redeemed himself, earning two pins and advancing to the 4A 160-pound semifinals. Getting a taste of the Tacoma Dome atmosphere a year ago helped Coffman stay focused this time.

“It’s easy here to get caught up in the lights and the big crowds and the announcer and feel sort of (distracted),” he said, “but you’ve got to focus on wrestling, and I think I’ve been doing that pretty good so far.”

Family motivates Parker

Making his Mat Classic debut, Mariner senior Dallas Parker won two matches on Friday in the 4A 103-pound division and moved on to today’s semifinals. It was a thrilling Day 1 of the state tournament for Parker. His father, who lives in Louisiana, and his brother, who is in the Army, both made special trips to Tacoma to watch Parker (34-1 this season) compete.

“I’m making them proud right now,” Parker said after his quarterfinal triumph, “so I’m kind of happy.”

Marysville-Pilchuck’s Robinson disqualified

Demetri Robinson entered Mat Classic XXIII with 4A state title hopes, but the Marysville-Pilchuck senior’s tournament ended on Friday with a disqualification in a 145-pound division consolation match. Ranked No. 1 in 4A, according to WashingtonWrestlingReport.com, Robinson endured an upset in the first round — he got pinned by Chiawana’s Daniel Ramirez — and bounced back with a loser-out match victory.

But in his next loser-out match Robinson was DQ’d in the second round for slamming his opponent too hard, M-P coach Craig Iversen said. The slam injured Robinson’s foe, Bothell sophomore Brandon Davidson, who appeared to hurt his neck and was taken away on a stretcher, Iversen said.

Robinson — a three-time state qualifier who won a B state title while representing Tulalip Heritage in 2008 — was leading the match before he got disqualified.

Said Iversen: “It’s kind of a tough way to lose out.”