A few weeks ago Andy Duncan grinned as he told me about his goal to get back to the state wrestling championships. After placing eighth last year in the 125-pound weight division, the Cascade senior hoped to place highly this season and maybe even contend for the individual title.
But a severe shoulder injury squashed Duncan’s plans.
Last Saturday during the Class 4A Region 1 tournament in Vancouver, Duncan was going against Steven Loos of Heritage in the 130-pound third/fourth-place match. According to Cascade coach Todd Freeman, Duncan attempted an underarm-toss move with about 30 seconds to go in the final period.
Duncan and Loos fell to the mat with most of their combined force jarring Duncan’s left shoulder, Freeman said. Duncan needed injury time and eventually lost 3-1. On Sunday Duncan couldn’t move the arm at all and Monday a doctor told Duncan he’d suffered a chest and sternum sprain, the coach said.
The injury was severe enough that Duncan decided not to compete at Mat Classic.
“He was pretty disappointed. His goal was top-four at the start of the season. He was upset, but we just told him to look back at the success that he had” throughout the season, coach Freeman said.
Duncan’s withdrawal opened up a Mat Classic spot for Snohomish’s Luke Perry, the Region 1 alternate whose brother Brad Perry qualified for the state tourney at 140.
In a strange twist, the new 130 Region 1 alternate is Cascade’s Lex Duncan, Andy Duncan’s younger brother. To read a previous story about the Duncan brothers click here.
I included a link to the Mat Classic brackets in my previous blog post. For a list of updated individual and team state rankings click here.
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