Bonney Lake Has Strong Showing at 2011 Mat Classic

Bonney Lake got big contributions from its two smallest competitors and the Panthers ended the 2011 Mat Classic with a respectable eighth place finish in the 3A division.

Colton Tracy (103 pounds) and Andrew Cunningham (112) both advanced to their respective weight classes championship round before falling just short of a first-place finish.

Tracy – a freshman – nearly upset Josh Newberg of Kelso in the 103-pound title match. Tracy fell behind early, but worked back to tie the match, nearly pinning Newberg in the second round. Newberg scored a takedown with under a minute left in the third round to walk away with a 7-5 victory.

Cunningham also came close to knocking off his opponent, Tyler Clark of University, in the 112-pound division. Cunningham appeared to score a takedown late in the match, but officials stopped action just before he finished flipping Clark over his head.

Despite neither taking the top spot in their weight class, 3A Coach of the Year Tony Clarke said he was pleased with the effort they both put forth.

“They did a great job,” Clarke said. “We’ve seen both these [opponents] before, we’ve lost to both these guys before…our guys came out and wrestled outstanding matches.”

Both Cunningham –a junior – and Tracy will have another shot at taking home a championship, something Clarke said he expects his wrestlers to start focusing on right away.

“Their off-season starts today,” Clarke said. “I guarantee you, they’re going to be in the weight room tomorrow ready to go.”

Enumclaw pulled out the 3A team title in dramatic fashion, taking home the top team spot for the third time in four years.

A year after losing out on the team title in its final two matches of the tournament, the Hornets were anchored by the two wrestlers who came up just short last year.

Josh Musick and Kario Wallin each won titles the year after finishing second in their weight classes. Musick’s loss last year knocked Enumclaw out of team title contention, a fact that he said stayed with him for nearly a year since.

“It stayed with me for about a year,” Musick said of the loss. “Until I watched the video of that finals.”

Aided by a desire to avoid the frustration of 2010, Musick pulled out a 6-2 victory over Hamilton Noel of Liberty (Issaquah). The win came after sophomore Lucas Somera got things started for Enumclaw with a title in the 135-pound weight division. Musick’s victory assured at least a share of the team title for Enumclaw and Wallin locked it up for the hornets, pinning Connor Boyce 1:29 into the second period.

“They’ve worked hard all season long,” coach Lee Reichert said. “I put them through the toughest schedule I could put them through and they just continued to get better. I’m so proud of these guys.

University finished second in the 3A division with 129.5 points after playing catch-up to Enumclaw since the start of the tournament.  The Titans had a shot at the team title heading into the championship round, but Enumclaw’s champions made sure University never got any closer than second.

Kelso was a distant third with 100.5 points, followed by Yelm with 95 points and North Central with 82 points.