TACOMA – Double overtime. State championship on the line. Letting up for even a second could mean the difference between being engrained in Washington athletics history forever, or ending the season in crushing disappointment.
Stressful, right?
Not for Glacier Peak’s Connor Aney. He is used to it.
When he found himself in that situation during the Boys 4A 285-pound championship at Mat Classic XXXVI at the Tacoma Dome on Friday, it was more of the same.
Glacier Peak’s Connor Aney reaches around his opponent’s back during the 4A boys 285-pound championship match at the Mat Classic on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025 in Tacoma, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
As a freshman in 2022, he lost to Kamiak senior Jaxin McCallum in triple overtime. The following year, he redeemed himself in triple overtime, defeating Sunnyside’s Mateo Armendariz. After beating Emerald Ridge’s Jesse Mains in a 5-2 decision last year, he faced the same opponent Friday – after losing to him earlier this season – and once again six minutes wasn’t enough.
Tied 1-1, Mains nearly scored a point on an escape towards the end of the first overtime, but Aney pulled him down to prevent the score. He started the second overtime on the bottom, and quickly pulled a reversal to go ahead 3-1. Means managed to escape once to cut it to 3-2, but he ran out of time. For the third year in a row, Aney was the 285 state champion.
“It was just something better than the last couple,” said Aney, who broke down in tears after securing the win. “Obviously losing to (Mains) earlier in the season was rough, hearing all this stuff that I’m not the guy anymore. It kinda sucked and it drove me. But I think just to prove people wrong now, it feels amazing.”
Arlington’s Tre Haines hand fights with his opponent during the 4A boys 165-pound championship match at the Mat Classic on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025 in Tacoma, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Aney became the 123rd three-time state champion in Washington history – Arlington’s Tre Haines became the 122nd earlier on Friday when he won the Boys 4A 157-pound weight class – but after his loss to Means earlier this year, there was chatter in wrestling circles that Aney was “no longer the guy.”
A TikTok predicting the 4A results sparked debate in the comments about Means vs. Aney. It bothered him at first, but with the help of his parents – Adam and Jodie – he shifted his focus and let it fuel him.
“We’re tremendously proud,” Jodie said. “There was a lot of pressure on him going into this tournament. There was a lot of chatter. … The pressure got to him a little bit, but I mean, ultimately Connor’s head in this territory is not new, and he’s well-prepared for it. His coaches have trained him, and worked on him, and I think that they’ve done a really good job.”
It was a winding road for Aney to get to this point. His father, Adam – who was a state champion at Monroe in 1993 and is now a coach for Glacier Peak – estimated Connor did not win a wrestling match until around two years after he started at the age of four. In sixth grade, he wanted to quit the sport entirely.
Glacier Peak’s Connor Aney squats on the ground between overtimes during the 4A boys 285-pound championship match at the Mat Classic on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025 in Tacoma, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Between the losing and the tough treatment he received from coaches, which Aney mistook as being “hated” as opposed to them wanting him to get better, he lost his passion for wrestling. Then he saw the success his cousin, Boyd, and sister, Anna, were having, as well as a handful of friends. He realized he missed the sport, and got back into it after a year off.
The winning did not come right away, but with a new mindset, he worked his way into what he is today, culminating with proving his doubters wrong on Friday.
“It’s awesome, I don’t know how to explain it,” Aney said. “I think losing to (Means) earlier in the season was a setback, but it made me learn a lot of things, and I think without that, I don’t get that done. I don’t have the mindset that you’re an untouchable. I mean, I should have had the mindset that I was untouchable, but again, it’s like ‘Hey, you got caught, and you gotta do something about it.’ And I did.”
For Adam, it was never in doubt: “Have to have that (faith). This is what weird sport that anything can happen at any time.”
After winning on Friday, wrapping up the final bout of Mat Classic XXXVI, Aney walked to the center of the mat, took off his shoes, held them up in the air and set them down before walking away. An interior offensive line commit for Central Washington University football next season, Aney is walking away from wrestling as a three-time state champion.
The shoe gesture was Adam’s idea, one which Connor was reluctant to carry out. Adam was disappointed the first time Connor left the sport, but now he’s at peace after everything he’s accomplished.
After a storybook end, Aney had one last reminder before he left the mat for good.
“Nobody beats me in overtime,” Aney said. “Nobody does.”
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Area State Medalists
Championship matches
4A: 157–Tre Haines (Arlington) dec. Isac Deonigi 4-1 (SV-1); 165–Josiah Taijeron (Rodgers) dec. Colin Edmonds (Glacier Peak) 4-2; 285–Connor Aney (GP) dec. Jesse Mains (Emerald Ridge) 3-2 (UTB).
2A: 215—Anthony Solorio (Othello) dec. Jimmy Conklin (Lakewood) 9-8.
2B/1B: 126—Ricardo Lara (Liberty Bell) dec. Creed Wright (Darrington) 10-8.
3rd place: Ever Yamada, Edmonds-Woodway, 175; Elijah Fleck, Stanwood, 190; Joseph Davis, Marysville Pilchuck, 157;
4th place: Grayson James, Jackson, 175; Odin Schwabenbauer, Snohomish, 190; Magnus Schwabenbauer, Snohomish, 215;
5th place: Dayton Fitzgibbon, Arlington, 144; Christopher Ramirez, Meadowdale, 132; Hakeim Smalls, Archbishop Murphy, 285.
6th place: Hollender Lynch, Edmonds-Woodway, 120; Dylan Weekley, Monroe, 190; Rodger Jones-Charles-Shelton, Marysville Pilchuck, 175; Elijah Veal, Sultan, 190.
7th place: Jacob Hurley, Lake Stevens, 126; Carmelo Larocca, Edmonds-Woodway, 190.
8th place: Quintan Parsons, Arlington, 106; Brody Hanson, Lake Stevens, 113; Oliver Paisley, Lake Stevens, 138; Dylan Rice, Edmonds-Woodway, 144; Isaac Williams, Mountlake Terrace, 150; Garrett Reeves-Turner, Marysville Pilchuck, 120.
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