By Aaron Coe
Herald Writer
TACOMA – Cascade heavyweight wrestler Jesse Calderon shed tears of disbelief Saturday moments after learning he had been disqualified for biting his Mat Classic XIV semifinal opponent.
Calderon said the bite was unintentional and he should have been able to contend for medal.
“I feel like I’ve been robbed,” said Calderon, a senior.
After winning twice on Friday, Calderon would have gone home with a medal Saturday even if he lost three matches.
The sixth-place medal for the Class 4A 275-pound class remained unawarded, however, and Calderon went home empty-handed.
Calderon, who was undefeated this season, was taken down and nearly pinned by East Valley’s Justin Moody, who went on to win the state title, late in the first round.
Moody appeared to wrap his arm around Calderon’s face, and as he pulled back, the arm drifted into Calderon’s mouth, which was open before Moody’s arm was near Calderon’s mouth.
Moody jerked his hand away from Calderon’s face, and said, “He bit me.” Nearly 10 minutes passed before members of the tournament committee ruled the bite was intentional. Calderon, who was not allowed to give his side of the story to the committee, was booted from the tournament for “flagrant misconduct.”
Calderon said his mouth was open because of the pain caused by Moody pulling back on a hand Calderon injured two weeks ago in the division tournament.
“I can see how he thought I might have done it,” Calderon said. “It was completely unintentional. I wanted to finish. Maybe I would have won, maybe I would have lost. I would have liked a chance to prove myself.”
Moody, who had visible teeth marks between his wrist and thumb, believed the bite was intentional.
“Yes, but, I would have rather wrestled it out. I don’t think he should (have been disqualified from the tournament),” said Moody, who showed no ill will toward Calderon.
“It was a cheap win.”
Cascade coach Sherm Iversen was clearly angry with the decision. He stopped briefly to sincerely wish Moody good luck in the championship before storming out of the mat area. He believes the bite was unintentional and the match should have continued. He contends Cascade was not given a chance to tell its side and that his wrestler should have gone home with hardware.
“We were looking forward to the second round,” Iversen said. “I’ve never seen anything this crazy happen in a state tournament.”
According to tournament co-director Marty Fortin, tournament guidelines do not allow for a wrestler accused of flagrant misconduct to represent his view of an incident.
“The referee determined the bite was intentional,” Fortin said. “The games committee verified this when they saw the bite marks. You have to follow the rulebook. You have to follow the rules to avoid chaos.”
Calderon, who was wearing the shoes of his two-time state champion uncle, simply wanted a chance to go home with his first state medal.
Instead, the Washington Interscholastic Activity Associations will have one left over.
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