Yusief Lillie, Brenden Chaowanapibool extend Bonney Lake’s streak of champions at Mat Classic XXXI
Bonney Lake High School wrestling coach Dan Pitsch knows how lucky he is.
His Panthers extended their crazy-good streak of crowning multiple champions to four consecutive years at Mat Classic XXXI on Saturday night, after sophomore Yusief Lillie (113 pounds) and senior Brenden Chaowanapibool (120) repeated as state champions at the Tacoma Dome.
Lillie stopped Mount Spokane’s Jarret Sharp, 16-5, in the finals while Chaowanapibool recorded the night’s fastest pin — 25 seconds — over Mountain View’s Andrew Fritz in winning his third state title.
Throw in what former Panthers’ standout and current Oregon State freshman Brandon Kaylor did in winning four Mat Classic titles (2015-18), those three wrestlers have totaled nine championships.
“The bond those guys have is pretty crazy,” Pitsch said. “I have never seen three guys this close on the same team. It has been pretty special. Coaching guys like that have made me a better coach.”
In one regard, the ending was bittersweet. Chaowanapibool finished his high school career and is heading off to the Air Force Academy next fall.
“It is super emotional,” Chaowanapibool said. “Both of them are my brothers for life. We’ve been training together (at Team Aggression) since we were 6 or 7 years old.”
Like a youngest brother, Lillie stands to benefit the most of having two first-rate wrestlers come before him. He is not only on track to become a four-time champion, but he very well could be the best wrestler of the trio.
“They are my idols. They are my brothers. We’ve been through everything together, thick and thin,” Lillie said. “But, I want to be better than them. I want to surpass all of them. I want to be the best that ever was.”
The big question now is — will Lillie stay at Bonney Lake? He said he is uncertain what is future is.
SEEING DOUBLE
There were 287 high schools that sent wrestlers to Mat Classic XXXI, but only three of them — including two schools from the South Sound — crowned individual champions in both the boys and girls divisions.
Yelm seniors Phoenix Dubose (115 pounds in girls) and Derrick Platt (195 in 3A), who won each won their first state titles last year as juniors, both repeated as champions.
Dubose upended wrestlers from Granger in back-to-back years to twice claim the 115-pound title. Saturday, she pinned Liliana Luna in 1:02 — the third-fastest pin of any of the 84 finals matches, and fastest pin in the girls division.
“It is my mom’s birthday present. That’s what she said she wanted this year,” Dubose said of her repeat title. “But, also it’s helping me prove to myself that I am the wrestler that everyone thinks I am. That I am on that level. That I am moving up in the wrestling world.”
Later, Platt secured a second title for the Tornados. He edged Mercer Island’s Donn Howard by 3-2 decision after taking the lead on a reversal in the third period — and celebrated his back-to-back titles with a backflip. Platt won at 182 pounds as a junior.
“All of my teammates were like, ‘Yo, you have to hit that backflip,’ because I just learned it in football season,” Platt said. “I was like, ‘Alright, if I have enough energy at the end of the match, I’ll hit it.’
“That adrenaline kicked in at the end of the match, even though I was gassed, hit the back flip, felt great, looked up in the stands at all my friends, family, coaches — it’s awesome. Great support group behind me.”
White River’s boys program sent four wrestlers to the top of the podium, including Nate Belcourt (113 in 2A), two-time winner Gabe Hawthorne (138 in 2A), Weston Lyver (152 in 2A) and three-timer Nate Moore (160 in 2A).
Payton Stroud won a girls title for the Hornets at 120 pounds after after a runner-up finish her junior season.
“I really, really wanted it,” she said. “I felt smarter about it, too.”
Union was the third school to crown champions in both the boys and girls divisions. Krista Warren won the 140-pound girls title, and Danny Snediker won the 4A championship at 160.
RAM TOUGH
Like many elite combatants, Salyna Shotwell has grown up on the mat. She has wrestled so many matches, she has lost count.
But the reigning West Regional School girl freestyle and folkstyle champion has a unique style of a move not often taught. And it is effective.
Teammates around Rogers High School dub it the “fancy arm bar.”
And she used it a couple of times in collecting her first state title Saturday night — and the Rogers girls program’s first Mat Classic championship since Kylah Williams in 2011.
Shotwell capped her domination of the 110 class by pinning Kamiak’s Diana Cantini in the second period at 3:29.
“I try and get a pin if it is there,” Shotwell said. “But, I don’t like to any chances.”
Not when she is so good at controlling an opponent’s wrist with an arm bar.
“It is my signature,” she said.
KEPT HIS WORD
Graham-Kapowsin’s Christopher Sparks backed up his prediction.
After placing seventh last season at 220, Sparks told his best-friend-turned-Mat-Classic champion Chad Simonson that he would match the feat in 2019.
Simonson must have remembered that conversation, because hours before Sparks’ 220 final match against Hanford’s Jonathan Burt, he sent his buddy a text message.
It read, “Better make it.”
And Sparks, who was also the Eagles’ starting center in football, dominated Burt, 16-5, to win his first state title. He finished the season at 41-2.
“It means so much to me right now,” Sparks said. “Ever since I was 4 years old … my goal was to be a state champion.”
SOUTH SOUND CHAMPS
Eighteen wrestlers from the South Sound won individual titles — either their first, second or third — at Mat Classic XXXI.
In 4A, Sparks was joined by three champions from Curtis, including two-time winner Aizaya “Maka” Yacapin (126 pounds), Ryan Wheeler (145) and three-timer Adrian St. Germain (152), who won his first two titles with Vashon Island.
Bethel’s Josh Walker (170) and North Thurston’s Kai Burgman (285) won in 3A, along with Lillie, Chaowanapibool and Platt.
White River had the only local 2A champions in Belcourt, Hawthorne, Lyver and Moore.
And, in the girls division, Shotwell, Dubose and Stroud were joined by individual champions London Houtson of Federal Way (125) and two-time winner Ofa He Lotu Tuifua of Kent Meridian (190).
Staff writers Chase Hutchinson and Lauren Smith contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 17, 2019 at 1:35 PM.