TACOMA – It’s difficult enough to win a state championship in wrestling with working body parts.
South Whidbey senior Ben Harris, somehow, won the 2A 171-pound weight class title Saturday in Mat Classic XVI at the Tacoma Dome with a second-degree separation of his left shoulder.
Harris, who suffered the injury in practice on Tuesday, went against the advice of medical personnel. Having finished second in last year’s 160-pound class, Harris said he never thought about skipping the tournament, even though doctors told him of the likelihood of surgery if he re-injured the shoulder.
“You have to deal with it; it’s a rough sport,” said Harris, his arm in a sling that he and the Falcons coaching staff kept out of sight during the tournament. “Being a senior, it was a one-shot deal. I was going wrestle no matter what. You’ve just got to take it.”
Treated with copious amounts of ice and aspirin Harris methodically won all four matches during the tournament, the last an 8-5 decision over Vashon’s Paul Radisky. He qualified for the finals with an 11-2 decision over Trent Tyler of Elma.
“It’s one of the guttiest things I’ve ever seen,” Falcons coach Wes Helseth said.
Harris said he never had a sense during the tournament that he’d put any undue stress on the shoulder. Following matches, he’d head back to his hotel room for rest and treatment. He told medical personnel that he was going to wrestle and for them to tell him what he should do to treat it.
“You have to believe that there’s no pain,” Harris said. “Then you go out there and adrenaline takes over.”
Harris and the coaching staff kept the injury a secret and, just by watching Harris wrestle Friday and Saturday, no one had any suspicions that he was anything less than 100 percent healthy.
“You wrestle six minutes,” Harris said. “I just had to go out there and abandon all pain. That’s what the hotel room was for.”
Harris was the only state champion from the area in the 1A/B, 2A or 3A classifications. No area team won team titles in any class, but there was no shortage of excellent individual performances.
Also in the 2A meet, Talon Venturo (189) of Lakewood concluded a wonderful tournament with a second-place finish to defending champion Evan Mattingly of Vashon. Mattingly pinned the Falcon senior in the second round.
Venturo’s strategy was to keep relentless pressure on Mattingly, but that fell through when Mattingly used Venturo’s own momentum to slam him to the mat. Seconds later, officials raised Mattingly’s hand in victory.
Venturo beat Cashmere’s David Hoefner in the semifinals, 5-2.
Sultan’s Ryan Conley failed in his attempt for a second-straight state title in a wild, 8-6 loss to Rick Shattuck of Orting in the 2A 130-pound class.
Trailing 6-4, Conley, last year’s 125-pound champion, bravely scored a two-point reversal with less than 15 seconds remaining. But moments before the end of the match, Shattuck himself turned a reversal to win it.
In his semifinal match, Conley beat freshman Justin Eastman of Rochester, 3-2.
In a bout for third and fourth place at 145 pounds in the 1A/B meet, Tyler Burns of Darrington lost a 7-2 decision to Colt Heathman of Mary Walker. Heathman beat Burns 10-4 in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Burns beat Gunnar Foss of Onalaska 7-4 and pinned Cameron King of Kettle Falls in 4:59 earlier in the day.
Joe Edmonds (130) of Lakewood finished fourth, dropping a 4-2 decision to Eastman. Edmonds qualified for the third-place match with a 5-0 decision over Aaron Koons of Ephrata after losing in the semifinals to Shattuck.
At 112, South Whidbey’s Phillip Schorr finished seventh after a 7-6 loss to Othello’s Conrad Garza, then posted an 11-2 victory over Medical Lake’s Justin Propeck.
In other 2A consolation matches, Sultan’s Jake Beedle finished seventh.
At 103, Steve Edmonds of Lakewood was pinned by Riverside’s Robert Spackman in 2:41 and finished eighth.
In the 1A/B consolation round, Darrington’s Rich Loughnan was eliminated via pinfall to Levi Davis of Liberty Bell.
At 130, Justin Friddle of Darrington was ousted in his first match of the day, a 10-4 decision to Guillermo Mendoza of Warden.
Also, Darrington’s Josh Friddle (125) bowed out of his first match Saturday because of injury default.
In the 125-pound division 2A semifinals, Lakewood’s Stephen Gillis lost to Rochester’s Levi Somers 12-7, then was pinned by Elma’s Daniel Curulla in four minutes.
In the 3A meet, Dan Claussen (130) of Cedarcrest lost to Sedro-Woolley’s Patrick O’Neil 6-5 in the semifinals before losing 7-6 to Mount Si’s Matt Haas.
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