Mullins bests cousin Hicks in 2A matchup

Rarely does Orting heavyweight Hunter Mullins trot around a wrestling arena without a joke to tell, or laughter building up in his belly.

But he was downcast Friday afternoon at Mat Classic XXVIII.

It wasn’t because he lost a match — that is not expected to happen. It is because of the circumstances under which he wrestled his Class 2A quarterfinal against Tumwater’s Cy Hicks.

Hicks also happens to be his cousin.

If the WIAA brackets had broken differently, this could have been the 2A championship match at 285 pounds on Saturday night. Instead it was a tension-filled way to end Friday.

Mullins, the defending 2A champion, jumped out to a big lead before pinning Hicks in 1 minute, 53 seconds.

Afterward, the Tumwater sophomore left the mat quickly and quietly, still stewing how the two relatives even reached this point.

You see, Hicks was a regional champion. In theory, he was not supposed to face another top seed the first day.

Except Mullins was not a top seed. Instead, he forfeited in the regional finals to teammate Kenny Marll.

Why?

Mullins saw the bigger picture: He wanted to give his understudy a better matchup in the first round of the Mat Classic to help the team score points — and improve its chances of capturing the 2A team crown.

But throughout the week, Mullins heard criticism from some in the wrestling community — even family members — about his decision to default in the regional tournament.

“It would have been nice to face (Hicks) in the state finals,” Mullins said. “But I made the decision last week to put my team in front of my family.”

Hicks admitted after the match he was “not happy” with Mullins’ decision.

“But he’s going to be my cousin forever,” Hicks said.

After the match, Mullins hugged his cousin — and softly apologized.

“I don’t know how it is with Cy,” Mullins said. “I hope and pray this doesn’t affect (our) relationship. We’ve grown up together all of our lives. It just really sucks.”

It happened elsewhere:

▪ Jake Douglas knew his Lake Stevens squad needed to squeeze every point out of a Mat Classic weekend to have a chance to clinch an 11th state title.

So in last week’s Class 4A regional finals in the 138 division, he injury defaulted to teammate Julian Fryberg.

The strategy worked — Fryberg won his first match by pin, and Douglas — a No. 2 seed — won both of his matches.

That included a 5-1 quarterfinal decision over South Kitsap’s Brandon Forster, a regional champion.

Known to try and keep matches tight, Forster gave up a takedown with five seconds to go in the second period.

“Last year, that was my entire style, too,” Douglas said. “I knew going into it, if he did that, I would still come out on top. I created that style.”

▪ Bethel junior Dante Springsteen wanted to capture one of the four No. 1 seeds in the 152 division in Class 4A.

He was leading Puyallup’s Spencer Hanson in the second period in last week’s regional finals when he was involved in a controversial disqualification for using a dangerous move.

Hanson injured his elbow, could not continue and was awarded a win — and regional title.

“Two days later, I was still not completely over it,” Springsteen said. “It took me until Wednesday when I started focusing on state.”

Springsteen reached the 4A semifinal with a 9-1 decision over Mount Si’s Mason Morenco.

“Honestly it worked out better,” Springsteen said. “It gave me more of an incentive and drive, because I am a No. 2 seed after getting (disqualified). It just made me focus.”

NOTES

Because of a good share of pins, both sessions ended earlier than scheduled. In fact, some of the classifications wrapped up action in the morning around 90 minutes early. … The day’s quickest pin belonged to two-time state champion Trevor Eicher (220) in a Class 1A first round match. He pinned La Center’s Hazen Kapp in 14 seconds. … Defending Class 3A 103 champion Brandon Kaylor had six takedowns in less than a minute in his quarterfinal win over Interlake’s Beau Wiebe. He now has 238 takedowns this season — a school record. “Sending a statement,” Kaylor said. … Life Christian Academy not only is in its first season of wrestling, sophomore Ezra Miller won the school’s first state match, opening with a pin in 3:48 over Selkirk’s Wyatt Stoddard. Miller lost in the 2B/1B quarterfinals.

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 12:16 AM with the headline "Mullins bests cousin Hicks in 2A matchup."