|
|
 |
|
Go Bears!!!
Tahoma Wrestling
|
Bears Dominate League Tournament
The Tahoma Bears won the league tournament in fine fashion Saturday night, beating second place Auburn by around 120 points. The Bears had eight wrestlers in the finals and ended up with six champions. Win of the night came from Steven Hopkins pictured above who beat returning state champion and national champion Ruben Nevejas of Kentwood by a score of 3-0. All together 11 Bears will move on to next weeks regional tournament at Auburn High School.
Bears Win Second Consecutive SPSL North League Title
It was Senior night at Tahoma, and the event lived up to the publicity. The Tahoma wrestlers dominated Kentridge, winning 69 – 12. An impressive 7 of the Bears won their matches with exciting pins that thrilled the crowd, including Gabe Boynay at 103, Steven Hopkins at 112, Tanner Mjelde at 119, Jeff Thompson at 152, Michael Blake at 171, and Konner Knudtsen wrestling up a weight at 285.
In between the JV and Varsity Matches, each of the Seniors on the squad was introduced, along with their parents or representatives. Key accomplishments were recounted, and each shared a “most memorable moment” in their wrestling career, ranging from humorous to meaningful. There were 13 Seniors honored, which speaks to the significant size of the team overall with over 60 boys participating.
Even with the loss of that many members next year, the team is still well prepared for a strong showing from the up-and-coming underclassmen. For the second weekend in a row, the JV Team won their multi-team tournament by a wide margin. In fact they won this JV Tournament so handily that other schools thought surely this must be a varsity team. So while there will certainly be outstanding wrestling to support at Tahoma for many years to come with the dynamic program that Coach Feist is building, it was fitting to honor the boys who have helped to grow the program and set an example for others to follow.
The team still has one more dual meet against Rogers in Puyallup on Friday the 29th. Then it’s on to the District Tournament at Kent Meridian February 5th & 6th , which lays the groundwork for Regional and State competition.
Photo by Lori Autrey
Bears take Falcons to their backs
The Tahoma Bears pinned down the Kentlake Falcons… literally last night at Kentlake. The Bears won matches by fall at eight out of fourteen weight classes. Senior Chris Hayden also had a tech fall for the Bears at a 140 pounds bringing the final match score to 61-13. The JV team also continued their winning ways losing just one match to Kentlake. The final JV score was 54-3. The Bears have set themselves up to win their second straight dual team championship. The team will wrestle Kentridge High School next week at home. This will be the teams senior night and their last opportunity to perform in front of the home crowd. We are hoping to see the stands packed as usual for this special event.
Bears win at Bonney Lake
Although the Bonney Lake tournament was a late addition to our schedule, the team rose to the occasion running away with the tournament. The Bears took 1st place with 193 points, second place Peninsula had 137 points. Five Bears were in the finals. Tanner Mjelde, Chris Hayden and Mike Milat all finished in first place.
Freshman Tim Whitehead, pictured above had one of the many solid wins for the Bears last night against Kentwood. The Bears won 9 of 14 matches in route to a 38-16 victory. Another big win came from Jesse Vaughn who dismantled a returning state placer Teddy Zografos by a score of 19-10. Senior Konner Knudtsen bumped up a weight class and easily handled Nathan Herrick a returning 3rd place wrestler from the 2009 state tournament. Overall the Bears looked very good on the mat and made many adjustments from their previous tournament. This puts the Bears at 3-0 in league with two more league duals on the horizon. The Bears will wrestle Kentlake at Kentlake High School next Wednesday night.
Bears take 3rd at Tri State
The Tri State tournament held in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho is one of the most competitive tournaments on the west coast. The Bears ended up with four wrestlers in the finals. This was more than any of the other 55 teams in attendance. Steven Hopkins started the finals off with a pin winning the 103 pound weight class. Steven pinned his way through the entire tournament. Tyler Lamb won his finals match by injury default. Konner Knudtsen won a big matchup at 215 pounds upsetting last years returning state champion in the finals. Nick Bayer took 2nd losing a close match to a nationally ranked wrestler in the finals.
Konner Knudtsen is the number one seeded wrestler in this week’s tri-state tournament. Nick Bayer, Tyler Lamb , and Steven Hopkins are all seeded 2nd. This 50 team tournament is often much tougher then the state tournament. Teams from 4-5 states all send their best wrestlers to compete. Many schools are only allowed to bring their top 6 wrestlers, so this makes the entire tournament very tough. Make sure to check out the finals on the Tahoma Webcam Saturday at around 5:00p.m.
Tyler Lamb Selected Seattle Times Athlete of the Week
Congratulations to Tyler Lamb, selected Seattle Times Athlete of the Week. Tyler pinned his way through the Sedro Woolley Tournament including two pins in :49 seconds. Tyler is currently the number one ranked wrestler at his weight in the state of Washington and has a record of 8-0.
Tahoma Junior Varsity Continues its Winning Ways
The Tahoma Junior Varsity is 3-0 in its first three duals.
The Washington Wrestling Report has ranked the Tahoma Wrestling Team 2nd in the State heading into the season. The team lived up to expectations as they defeated both Thomas Jefferson and Decatur High Schools in their first league matches of the year. The upperclassmen performed well as expected, and 103 pound freshman Tim Whitehead showed he’s planning to be a strong contributor this year as well, as he pinned his man from Decatur, and won by forfeit over TJ.
Upper classmen with strong showings included Konnor Knudtsen with a pin at 285 lbs, Zach Dopps with a pin at 215, Ryan Ota at 171 with a 6-4 victory over a tough state-placer from last year, Jeff Thompson pinned at 160, Tyler Lamb at 145 pinned in the 1st period, Chris Hayden also scored a win at 145, while at 140 Jordan Higa beat a strong state placer from last year by 7-1, and Michael Milat won 7-1. Sophomores made a significant contribution as well, Daniel Haniger fought hard to win a major decision 15-4, over his opponent at 135, Steven Hopkins at 112 and Jordan Jolley at 125, both won by pins, with Steven scoring an additional Technical Fall (win by more than 15 points).
Coach Feist stated he was pleased with the efforts of his team, but noted they still have a lot of work left. He said that once the wrestlers are all down to their intended weights, they’ll have a final line-up pinned down and a better feel for how they’ll stack up against the other teams in the state. Coach said he was particularly impressed with the efforts of Higa, Haniger and Ota in the first night’s competition. All three battled through for victories against strong, experienced opponents.
With so many wrestlers of varsity caliber, team members traded off opportunities to wrestle, or wrestled up at higher weights during Thursday night’s matches. Fitting all the talented wrestlers and their specific weights into the limited number of spots on the varsity roster appears to be the challenge. The State has limitations based on hydration and body fat content, which determines how much weight a wrestler can lose during the season to avoid health risks. Over the next two weeks many of the wrestlers are perfecting their fitness to reach their optimum weights for competition the remainder of the schedule.
Junior Varsity stand-outs that won by Pins included Austin Perry, Zach Zander, Garrett Autrey, Matt Hopkins, Austin Kandior, and crowd favorite Mikey Cron.
Don’t forget the Bears Alumni Night Home Opener this Friday, 12/11 at 6:30!
Bears don't shake hands... bears hug.
| |
|
|
