Panthers claim sixth

The only one who appeared calm during Addison Tracy’s overtime victory for the 145-pound Class 3A state wrestling championship Saturday night, seemed to be the Bonney Lake High senior.

“That’s the way to end it for me,” he said. “That’s the way I think of a wrestling career, winning in overtime.”

It was a match that seesawed back and forth between Tracy and Chris Tripplet of East Valley-Spokane. Tripplet went ahead on a stall point with less than 50 seconds remaining in the match. Then, got called for stalling himself to create the tie.

Shortly into overtime, Tracy scored to take the 7-5 win.

“After I got the stalling call, I had to move,” he said.

The victory made Bonney Lake High history. Tracy is the first wrestling title winner in the school’s young four-year history.

The Eagle Scout said it was a goal since he came in as a freshman.

“I was keeping an appointment with destiny, 3-2-1,” he said referring to his third-place state finish in 2007, his runner-up finish last year and his state tile Saturday night in the Tacoma Dome.

Tracy was the top finisher, but not the only place winner for the Panthers, who took seven to state, snuck in an alternate, and placed six.

It was also the Panthers’ best finish, earning sixth in a competitive field that saw South Puget Sound League 3A nemesis Enumclaw win its second-straight title and Auburn Mountainview finish ninth, Frankin Pierce, 10th, Sumner, 17th and White River, 18th.

“We’re getting the respect from the league,” coach Tony Clarke said. “It’s a testament to how hard these guys are working.

“These kids, this group, we’ve had since they were freshmen,” he said. “They’ve all put in the time and work all year ‘round.

“We’ve really built a family. We all love each other. I’ve never been around anything like it.”

Tracy coasted through his half of the 145-pound bracket, pinning Jordan Johnson of Port Angeles in 1 minute, 1 second and Mike Ruane of Hanford in 1:12, and then scored a 19-2 technical fall over Scott Lindquist of Columbia River before the overtime win for the title.

Junior Nick Bendon captured fourth at 135 pounds, losing to Tyler King of Auburn Mountainview 3-0. He took the long road to get there, dropping his opener to Shawn Olivarez of Sunnyside and then winning four straight. He started with an 8-2 victory over Nolen Spires of Prairie, then took a 7-2 decision over Kyle Wiley of Prairie. He then topped Sean Biltoft of East Valley-Spokane, 5-2 and Olivarez again, this time winning 5-2, before facing King for third and fourth.

Joey Salgado, a senior, finished fourth at 152 pounds after losing 4-2 to Zack Wilkes of Mount Spokane. Salgado kicked off the tournament Friday with a pair of wins. The first was a 7-3 decision over Jay Chakavarty of Liberty-Issaquah and then a 6-4 win over Conner Brame of Ferndale. He fell to eventual champion Derek Garcia of Sedro Woolley, but rallied to top Isiah Corwin of Lindbergh, 10-4, before facing Wilkes.

Sam Mebarki, a senior, finished seventh, closing out his high school career with a 2-1 win over Clinton Coulter of Union. After losing his first match, he came back to pin Dalton Williamson of Port Angeles in 2:14 and Jerry Conteras of Everett in 2:58. A loss to Mason Remy of Bainbridge put him in the match for seventh.

Junior heavyweight Jared Dorsey started his state tournament with a bang, beating Damon Pederson of Hudson’s Bay, 7-4 and Konrad Swartz of Sedro Woolley with a 5:05 pin. Then he ran into eventual champion John Camp who took him to the mat in 53 seconds. Dorsey rebounded with a 4-3 decision over Pederson before falling 4-2 to Steven Taylor of North Central.

Josh Peart, a junior who was the alternate at 140 pounds, started with a 13-9 win over Baltazar Avalos of Sunnyside. He lost his next match, but rallied with a 5-4 victory over John Janicki of Sedro Wolley. After another loss he faced Ryan Makela of Mount Si, suffering a 7-5 loss, for eighth.

Junior Robby Slick competed at 119 pounds and senior Pat Bendon represented the Panthers at 125.