TACOMA – Ryan Conley broke a sweat, which he wanted to do to help make weight for today’s semifinals, but his respiratory rate suggested he’d just come back from a brisk walk.
Conley, a 130-pound Sultan High School senior who’s trying to take home his second-straight state title, made it look easy Friday at Mat Classic XVI, piling up an astonishing number of points for two technical falls.
He earned a spot in the 2A semifinals with an 18-2 technical fall against Jackson Edens of Hoquiam in the first round and a 16-0 tech fall over Aaron Koons of Ephrata.
“You have to be pretty confident, know what you’re going to do and do it,” said Conley, who won the 125-pound title last season.
Conley, 32-0 this season, faces somewhat of a mystery in today’s semifinals in Rochester’s Justin Eastman, who recorded a pinfall and a 12-4 decision in his two matches Friday.
“Today was the first time I’ve ever seen him wrestle,” Conley said of Eastman. “He’s pretty good. It’ll be a good match.”
Perhaps just as daunting as the act of going through the best wrestlers in the state is the prospect of going for his second state title. In fact, Conley freely admits to feeling the pressure this time around more than he did last year in winning the 125-pound championship.
“Going through the first one, I didn’t have anything to lose,” he said. “This year, everybody’s after you.”
Maybe, but it didn’t appear that Conley was particularly concerned Friday. In the decision against Edens, he was confident enough to try moves he doesn’t normally use. In beating Koons, Conley stayed with his normal repertoire and treated Koons as though he were digging something out of his ear.
“He’s very focused,” Sultan coach Wes Fischer said. “There’s a fire in his gut that won’t say no. He has his goals well-defined in his mind.”
Judging from Friday, it’s not difficult to deduce what the major goal is.
Other area wrestlers also qualified for today’s semifinal matches in the 2A and 1A/B meets.
Ben Harris of South Whidbey advanced to the 2A 171-pound semifinals with a 6-0 decision over Tony Lee of Connell in his first match and followed that up with an 11-2 decision over Cory Creighton of Stevenson.
Lakewood’s Joe Edmonds (130) also qualified for the 2A semifinals with a pair of victories. He beat Aaron Carr of LaCenter 8-1 before downing Kameron Hopkins of East Valley (Yakima) 8-3.
In the 125-pound class in 2A, Stephen Gillis of Lakewood crashed the semis with a pin of Deer Park’s Aaron Anderson at 5:28 and wild, 21-14 decision over Joel Flores.
At 189, Lakewood’s Talon Venturo made the 2A semifinals by pinning Justin LaDue of Hoquiam in 4:40, then scored a hard-fought 2-1 decision over Toppenish’s Ted Rios.
In the 130-pound class in 3A, Dan Claussen of Cedarcrest made the semis with a win over Prosser’s Johnny Hurtado (injury default) and won a 6-4 decision over Fife’s Brandon Buhl.
In other 2A matches, Phillip Schorr of South Whidbey recorded a 6-2 decision over Nooksack Valley’s Sam Larson at 112 pounds, lost a 4-2 decision to A.J. DeLeon and pinned Klahowya’s Joe Frasquillo in 3:36 to remain in the tourney.
At 103, Steve Edmonds of Lakewood lost to Pullman’s Marty Kincaid 8-1, beat Hoquiam’s Brian Skolrood 15-4 and guaranteed himself a medal with a 6-0 victory over Castle Rock’s Brett Anshutz.
Sultan’s Jake Beedle, at 152, lost 12-2 to Colin Boyle of Ridgefield, but came back to beat Alex Martin of Cascade (Leavenworth) 5-3 and scored a 10-5 decision over George Wallace of Forks to stay in the tourney.
In the 1A/B meet, Joe Suchan of Archbishop Murphy was pinned by Jordan Brandenberg at 4:48 in his opening match at 135, but came back to pin Nelson Cothren of Wahkiakum in 4:01. Suchan was eliminated, losing a 3-0 decision to Zach Quinby of Ocosta.
Nevertheless, Suchan has the distinction as the first Wildcat wrestler to win a match at state. The program is in its first year.
At 130, Darrington’s Justin Friddle scored an 11-10 decision over Cody Spurbeck of Almira-Coulee-Hartline in the opener, but lost a tech fall to Royal’s Nels Toftdahl, 16-0. Friddle will medal today, thanks to a pin at 4:48 on Tyler Martinez-Bobb of White Swan.
At 145, Darrington’s Tyler Burns pinned Warden’s Ben Martinez in 2:57, lost a 10-4 decision to Colt Heathman of Mary Walker. Burns pinned Jose Ibarra of Zillah in 3:08 to stay in the tournament.
At 275, Rich Loughnan of Darrington was pinned in 1:04 by Tonasket’s Jimmy Nick, pinned Warden’s Luis Martinez and stayed in the tourney with a pin at 1:36 over Ryan Lamm of Kettle Falls.
At 125, Josh Friddle of Darrington pinned Teek Hort of Kalama 1:26 in his first match, but lost 17-4 in his second match to Oroville’s Ross Villegas. He stayed in the tournament with a pin at 2:58 on Jesse Boyd of Pomeroy.
No area 3A wrestlers were able to avoid elimination.
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