GRANITE FALLS — The lights went down and the stars took center stage for the finals of the Cascade Conference Wrestling Regional Qualifier tournament at Granite Falls High School Saturday.
Archbishop Murphy entered the conference as the favorites to repeat as tournament champions after a perfect 5-0 Cascade Conference regular season that saw the Wildcats wrap up their first-ever Cascade Conference championship.
The Cedarcrest Red Wolves meanwhile had different plans.
Cedarcrest, a fifth-place finisher at the 2A state tournament last season, finished with a tournament-best 232 points, winning the tournament and more importantly, qualifying nine wrestlers for next Saturday’s regional meet at Mount Vernon High School.
The top three individual placers in each weight class advance to the regional meet. The fourth-place finishers will wrestle in pigtail bouts against the fifth-place wrestlers from the Northwest Conference, with the winners earning a spot in the regional.
The Red Wolves had participants in the first five matches of the final round and had a total of eight wrestlers competing for a Cascade Conference title.
Led by a surprise win from Omar Arredondo at 112 pounds, the Red Wolves won three out of the first five bouts and finished with a total of four individual champions.
Arredondo won a 9-3 decision over Archbishop Murphy’s Jeremy Wattam. Wattam, a state qualifier last season, came into the match with a remarkable 24-5 record and had defeated Arredondo 11-0 earlier in the season.
Wattam’s record and their prior matchup didn’t cause Arredondo to think differently about the match.
“I just thought about beating him,” Arredondo said, after qualifying for his second regional tournament.
Cedarcrest got wins from standouts JD Gorman (119), Ty Howard (125) and Brady Paxman (171). Howard (25-3 overall), ranked No. 2 in the state by the Washington Wrestling Report, defeated Archbishop Murphy’s Cameron Wade, ranked No. 9 in state, 8-3, for his second straight conference title.
After placing third in two state tournaments, the senior had high expectations entering this postseason.
“I had high hopes of winning state and it keeps on getting closer and closer,” Howard said.
Paxman, ranked No. 2 in the 171-pound weight class, pinned his opponent in 1 minute, 54 seconds. The senior has posted a remarkable 24-1 record and will look to better his third place finish at last year’s 2A state tournament.
Despite not winning the tournament, Archbishop Murphy continues to make a steady and successful progression on the mats.
Competing in just its fifth season as a program, the Wildcats will send at least 10 wrestlers to next Saturday’s regionals with a chance for two more coming from the pigtail bouts. The Wildcats sent five in 2007, a year after not qualifying anyone in 2006.
Brad Gee (189), Zeke Evers (215), Eric Miller (145) and Caleb Smith (140) all won individual titles for the Wildcats.
One person who isn’t new to the tournament is Sultan head coach Wes Fischer.
Fischer, in his 17th season as head coach of the Turks, was named co-Coach of the Year along with Granite Falls coach Tony Helgeson.
Fischer, who has indicated that this is probably his last year as head coach, led nine Turks to the regional tournament and had three individual champions.
Brothers Garrett (103), a freshman, and Mikey Varnell (130), a junior, each won titles along with Travis Turner at 135.
“It feels good. Hopefully we go to state,” Mikey Varnell said after defeating Cedarcrest’s Bryan Carroll in a rematch of last year’s 125-pound championship.
Fischer wasn’t surprised by Turner’s win saying the junior has gone under the radar this year.
Turner broke his finger last season and didn’t get to finish the season.
Teammate Abe Bray wrestled in the most exciting match of the night, a 5-4 overtime decision against South Whidbey’s Aaron Mannie.
Bray tied the score at 4-4 with a two-point takedown with five seconds remaining in the third period. Midway through the overtime period Bray made a move that knocked Mannie’s headpiece off and the official ruled a headset violation, which gave Mannie the 1-point victory.
Mannie had one of South Whidbey’s three individual champions. Trapper Rawls repeated as heavyweight champ with a pin in the final second of the meet.
James Schorr was the third Falcon that won a Cascade Conference title pinning Cedarcrest’s Seth Gremmert in their 160-pound match.
At Granite Falls H.S.
Team scores: Cedarcrest 232, Archbishop Murphy 206.5, Sultan 184.5, South Whidbey 154, Granite Falls 130, Lakewood 65.
Individual results: Top-three advance to regional meet. Fourth-place individuals advance to regional pigtail bouts.
Championship finals
103-Varnell (Sult) pinned Lisk (CC), 2:19; 112-Arredondo (CC) dec. Wattam (AM), 9-3; 119-Gorman (CC) pinned Rue (LW), 1:25; 125-Howard (CC) dec. Wade (AM), 8-3; 130-M. Varnell (Sult) dec. Carroll (CC), 5-1; 135-Turner (Sult) dec. Baehm (AM), 8-4; 140-Smith (AM) dec Torres (AM), 6-4; 145-Miller (AM) pinned Brittain (CC), 1:46; 152-Mannie (SW) dec. Bray (Sult), 5-4 OT; 160-Schorr (SW) pinned Gremmert (CC), 1:47; 171-Paxman (CC) pinned Broyles (SW), 1:54; 189-Gee (AM) dec. Estrella (Sult), 13-5; 215-Evers (AM) dec. Britton (SW), 7-2; 275-Rawls (SW) pinned Kruse (AM), 5:59.
Third-Fourth
103-Leverett (Sult) pinned Van Hollebeke (AM), 0:55; 112-Jenkins (GF) pinned Vaughn, 1:57; 119-de Chadenedes (AM) dec. Gilbertson (GF), 10-6; 125-Coman (Sult) pinned Ward (CC), 4:20; 130-Lopez (GF) pinned Atkinson (Sult), 2:10; 135-Webb (CC) dec. Scheiene (GF), 11-8; 140-Kaminski (Sult) pinned Stockman (CC), 2:33; 145-Mueller (LW) dec. Granger (CC), 6-5; 152-McKeever (LW) major dec. Kenney (CC), 11-0; 160-Teter (GF) dec. Warwick (SW), 10-4; 171-Leonard (L) pinned Martinez (AM), 1:49; 189-Jones (GF) pinned Romero (SW), 4:33; 215-Henrickson (Sult) dec. Ritter (CC), 10-7; 275-McKibben (GF) dec. Monell (SW), 8-6 OT.
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