In a dominating performance, the Tahoma Bears wrestling squad dismantled 16 other schools at the 4A Region III Championships on Saturday at Thomas Jefferson High School.
After more than doubling the next closest school’s point total – South Kitsap’s 141.5 – Tahoma finished with a region-high 303.5 points and will be sending 15 wrestlers to the Mat Classic next weekend at the Tacoma Dome.
Six of that group – Tim Whitehead, 113 pounds; Cruz Velasquez, 120; Steve Hopkins, 126; Gabe Boynay, 132; Tanner Mjelde, 145, and Austin Perry, 182 – took first in the region.
Joey Palmer, who is the top-ranked 132-pound wrestler in the state and was awarded the Region III Wrestler of the Year honors, injury defaulted in the finals to his teammate Boynay.
Tahoma coach Chris Feist said Palmer will be ready to wrestle next weekend.
With Palmer and 10 other wrestlers in the finals, Feist said there were positives and negatives to be taken from the regional meet.
“I think the boys did really well,” Feist said. “This is a tough tournament and we came in here knowing we were going to have to fight to get the numbers through to even have a chance to finish in the top four next weekend. We set a goal in November to bring 15 to state and we’re doing just that.
“There are a couple of weights we would have liked to see ourselves place a step higher on the podium than we did, but that’s always the situation.”
It’s the most wrestlers the powerhouse program has ever sent to state, a significant accomplishment not lost on Feist.
“It means a lot to me,” he said. “Not because we are winning the league or regionals, but because our program is consistently making strides each year. We take a lot of pride in the fact that we have a great staff that works with these kids and it’s a total team effort by my staff.
“We’ll sit down at the end of the year and look at our successes and where we failed and where we need to change. I think we’ve made some adjustments over the last two years to put ourselves in this position to bring home the trophy again.”
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