Team titles prove elusive, but South Sound wrestlers rack up plenty of titles at Mat Classic XXXII
Curtis High School wrestlers Aizayah ‘Maka’ Yacapin and Ryan Wheeler, part of this year’s class of The News Tribune’s Untouchables, wanted to go out on top at Mat Classic XXXII in their final high school wrestling seasons.
Both achieved that goal, with Yacapin winning the Class 4A state title in the 132-pound weight class with an 8-5 decision over Sunnyside’s Andrew Macias, and Wheeler winning in the 152-pound weight class with a 10-4 decision over Chiawana’s Darion Johnson.
For a moment, it looked like Yacapin could be in some trouble, going for his third-consecutive state title, getting his leg stuck in an awkward position early in the match and injuring his knee. He was given time to regroup before limping back to the center of the mat to continue the match.
“It was tough, but it’s just mental,” Yacapin said. “You deal with the pain later. When I got hurt, he definitely smelled blood. He just kept coming after me. He’s good, he’s really good.”
Yacapin held off Macias’ takedown attempts and hung on for the decision.
“It was all hanging on,” he said. “I tried to get a couple more points but couldn’t get the push off my right leg.”
Wheeler, meanwhile, made relatively easy work of Johnson, winning a comfortable decision and exhausting his opponent in the process.
“He’s a tough kid,” Wheeler said of Johnson. “He came out and surprised me a bit. He was hard to hold onto. But it was a good way to end (our careers), finish it off. It was awesome, good for me. I wouldn’t be the wrestler I am today without (Curtis). I had really good coaches.”
Outside of Yacapin and Wheeler, Curtis didn’t have quite the same depth as last year. This year, the Vikings finished seventh in the Class 4A standings. Chiawana took first with 143 points, Sunnyside second (132), Tahoma third (126.5), Mead fourth (89) and Moses Lake fifth (88.5).
Tahoma had three state champions, with Yusief Lillie (120), Steele Starren (145) and Levi Kovacs (220) all bringing home titles for the Bears.
Lillie, who transferred from Bonney Lake this season, took the 120-pound title in his first year with the Bears, in a scrappy, closely-contested 3-1 decision over Sunnyside’s Edward Villanueva.
“I’ve been trying to stay in my stance a lot more,” Lillie said. “He’s an outside wrestler, so I knew if I just kept pressuring forward, kept doing my outside stuff and not let him in, I’d win the match.”
Lillie, also part of this year’s class of Untouchables, said it’s been a positive experience in his first season at Tahoma.
“I liked it a lot,” Lillie said. “The coaches, my dad, all my supporters helped me win a lot more at Tahoma than at Bonney Lake. The school is a better place. I had people picking me up, working just as hard as I am, having the same mentality. I got pushed a lot more at Tahoma.”
In 3A, Mount Spokane took the team title with 141 points, followed by Edmonds-Woodway (103), Yelm (98), Stanwood (77.5) and Bethel (76.5).
Peninsula’s Nolan Casey posted a convincing championship performance in 3A, beating Snohomish’s Ryan Cote on a 14-0 decision. Earlier in the season, Casey had faced Cote, but only came away with a 1-0 win on decision. It wasn’t so close this time around.
“It’s mindset,” Casey said. “I really wanted this one. I really, really wanted this one. Nothing means more to me than this, winning it for the home team. It means a lot.”
WHITE RIVER GIRLS WIN TITLE
After some close calls, including a second-place finish a season ago, the White River girls wrestling program broke through to win its first team title on Saturday with 95 points, edging Kennewick (86.5), North Kitsap (90), Federal Way (72) and Othello (64).
Hornets’ coach Jason Jackson has been involved with the program since it launched 10 years ago — six years as an assistant and the past four years as the program’s head coach.
“It means the world for the program,” Jackson said. “For the community, for the school, for the girls, it’s theirs. They worked for it. I’m just a driver of the bus. They’re the passengers who pay the fee. It’s hard to put into words. It can be the start of a new beginning for our program, to get more girls to come to us, inspire more girls to show up, which always makes the team better.”
Claire Dicugno was the team’s title winner in 125, pulling away from Union’s Riley Aamold late to win a 7-4 decision, one year after losing in the finals.
“It feels so much better to be on the winning end,” she said. “I was very confident coming in. I got caught in a cradle in the first minute. But I stayed confident. I knew my training. At the end, just get one, I trusted that. I could feel she was getting tired.”
Dicungo said this year’s team was a deserving group to take home the program’s first team title.
“This team we have right now is the best team I’ve ever been on,” Dicugno said. “All of the girls worked so hard. There’s no drama on the team, there’s no issues. Everyone is working until they’re almost dying in our practices. When you have a group that works so hard, it influences everyone around them.”
Jackson has seen the program’s growth firsthand.
“We’ve grown as far as skill wise, being accepted as a legit program quite a bit,” he said. “We’ve grown to where people look at us as the legit No. 1 in the state. … I’ve just seen it go straight up in the air and become an even better program than when it started. Now, with the skill level going up, with the abilities of all the girls to get better, the facilities we have, the support of the community, our juniors program, the sky is the limit now.”
ORTING TAKES SECOND, WHITE RIVER THIRD IN 2A
Toppenish was the clear frontrunner in Class 2A coming into the tournament, and that played out accordingly, with the Wildcats cruising to the team title with 247.5 points. But Orting finished strong with 179 points to take second, ahead of White River, which finished third with 96 points.
“I kind of figured that’s where we’d end up,” said Orting coach Jody Coleman. “It’s what we deserve. Toppenish did a great job. I feel really good about the future. It’s been fun.”
Conor Goucher won a title in the 126-pound weight class and Seth Dawkins won the title in 145. Goucher beat Pullman’s Gabriel Smith on a 6-2 decision in what was a fairly conservative match for both wrestlers.
“It feels amazing after coming up short the past couple years, getting second,” Goucher said. “I owe so much to Orting.”
Dawkins’ match, meanwhile, was a wilder affair, ending in a 12-6 win on decision against Othello’s Arturo Solorio. It was Dawkins’ first state title.
“I’ve been working so hard for it, every day, grinding,” he said. “I just want to cry. I’ve never felt so happy in my life.”
While Toppenish wasn’t going to be denied this year, the Orting coaches and wrestlers were happy with the second-place finish.
“It’s a huge part,” Dawkins said. “Orting has always been in the top three. Of course we wanted to win. We dropped a couple matches. But I believe we did really great and I’m really proud of Conor Goucher and everyone who placed in this tournament.”
This story was originally published February 22, 2020 at 11:47 PM.
