Beehive of wrestling activity

There were 24 mismatched wrestling mats, borrowed from 24 schools, spread out over the football turf yesterday, the opening day of Mat Classic XIV, Washington's high school championship tournament. Each mat is its own cell of activity and emotion, its drama played out as part of the larger tapestry.


	Wrestlers compete on some of the 24 mats in the Tacoma Dome. There will be 1,680 matches over two days. Gilbert W. Arias / Seattle Post-Intelligencer Click for larger photo

The sound is the steady hum of a beehive, punctuated by the constant, sharp whistles of referees. The only time the entire crowd cheers together is when the public-address announcer reports that a wrestler's missing sweatshirt has been found.

There are thousands of people here, rooting for 896 competitors from 326 schools. School banners hang around the railings, marking rough rooting sections, but finding an individual wrestler here is like trying to lasso a jellyfish.

There will be 1,680 matches here in two days as champions are crowned in 14 weight classes and four classifications. As in a beehive, what looks like chaos is actually intricately organized -- it has to be.

"It's really like four separate tournaments," says Mike Colbrese, executive director of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. "It's a very complex animal.

"The wrestling community in this state is so organized and they have such camaraderie, it's the only way this works as well as it does. We've got a lot of good people willing to put their heart and soul into it."

Heart and soul are evident everywhere you turn.

Tough break

There is bad luck, and then there's Scott Houck's luck.

The 125-pound junior from Woodinville was happy to get into the state 4A tournament as his region's final seed. Houck became decidedly less happy when he learned his first-round opponent was Burke Barnes.

Barnes, a senior from Lake Stevens, is the closest thing to a lock you'll ever see in sports. He entered Mat Classic with a 124-4 career record, a 22-0 season record and a bead on his fourth consecutive state championship, something accomplished only twice in state history.

A legitimate state competitor with a 24-9 record, Houck was nothing but a speed bump, the victim of a pinfall in a minute flat. He lost his second-round match by decision and was eliminated.

"I knew I was going to have a tough first round, but he was a lot better than I expected," Houck said. "I don't know what it was, his setup stuff was just great. I just wanted to compete with him and wrestle him like I would anybody else."


	Sumner's Nate McEuen goes for the pin against Jeff Nearing of Lake Stevens in their 152-pound match. McEuen won by technical fall, 16-1. Gilbert W. Arias / Seattle Post-Intelligencer Click for larger photo

Woodinville coach Shaker Culpepper said anything is possible at state -- within reason.

"I've watched a bunch of No. 4 seeds beat No. 1 seeds," he said. "Seeds are thrown out the window at state. Unless it's Burke."

Was Culpepper impressed to see Barnes in action?

"It's hard to tell when he only wrestles for a minute."

Boys of winter

Kevin Kalal has been in wrestling as long as he can remember. His father, Fred, coached the sport for more than 30 years, most of them at R.A. Long, and is in the state wrestling hall of fame.

"When I was four years old, there was nothing better than getting on a bus at 6 a.m. for a tournament and not getting home until midnight," said Kalal, 33. "I've always had that emotion for it, and I try to share that emotion with these kids."

For the past 10 years, he has been a volunteer assistant coach at Bellarmine Prep, taking advantage of the relatively light winter schedule of his regular job: assistant general manager of the Tacoma Rainiers, the Mariners' Class AAA affiliate. For Bellarmine, he's the statistician and organizer, letting the professional coaches do most of the coaching. He just wants to stay involved.

"I get a much bigger thrill watching a high school wrestler achieve something than watching a pro athlete," he said.

In a hurry

The record for fastest match in the first round goes to Lincoln's Hieu Tran, who pinned Lester Brown of Lake Stevens in 15 seconds in a 103-pound match.

"The guy shot in on his leg, and Hieu just popped his legs and turned him over," Abes assistant coach Geoff Kaylor said. "The kid had a pretty nice shot, but he got turned over and, boom, it was over."

Initially, Tran didn't have any interest in wrestling, but coaches talked the senior into coming out for the team because they didn't have a 112-pounder. He dropped to 103 at midseason, and is 17-3 at the lower weight.

"We had to beg him to come out and wrestle," head coach Ed Lacross said. "He really did it out of loyalty to the school, but the second half of the season he started taking it seriously, and he's done really well."

Tran won his second-round match by decision to qualify for today's quarterfinals.

In the hunt

Ty Watterson bought a camouflage T-shirt for hunting. The state's 215-pound wrestlers turned out to be the hunted.

"It's just a little superstition," he said. "I wore it to camp one year and went undefeated at the camp, so I thought, 'Hey, let's keep it going.'"

Watterson kept his unbeaten season going yesterday, winning on a quick pin and a 15-3 decision to make it into the quarterfinals and run his record to 42-0. He lost the 4A title match at 215 last season.

His performance is more important to his team than he expected. The Hornets saw six of their 10 qualifiers lose in the first round, a serious blow to dreams of a team title. One of the losses was a 1-0 match, another an overtime defeat.

"If you bring five wrestlers and four win, you feel pretty good," coach Lee Reichert said. "But when you bring 10 and only win four matches, you don't feel too good."

All Watterson can do is wrestle to win, which he was going to do anyway.

"(The team points) is always in you mind, but it's not like, oh, I have to pin this guy or we're not going to win," he said.

Perspective

Numerous motivational techniques are on display in the Tacoma Dome. The Elma team held hands and prayed together before the evening session. The entire Port Townsend contingent painted their hair red -- not Lucille Ball red, Ronald McDonald red.

But on the backs of their T-shirts, the team from tiny Zillah displayed some actual wisdom, courtesy of Aristotle:

"I count him braver who conquers his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is the victory over self."

He's OK

John Gonzales of Auburn was taken from the Tacoma Dome on a stretcher with his head immobilized after a scary injury in a 112-pound match. He was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center, where a CT scan reportedly revealed no serious injury. Tournament officials said he had full use of his arms and legs.

P-I reporter David Andriesen can be reached at 206-448-8061 or davidandriesen@seattlepi.com

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