There’s good news for the rest of the 140-pound wrestlers in the newly reconfigured South Puget Sound League 3A – in his senior campaign, Bonney Lake’s Addison Tracy has at last elected to move up a weight or two.
“Addi really built himself up and became a lot stronger in the off season, so he won’t be wrestling at the lighter middle weights anymore; he is a rock solid middleweight now,” said coach Anthony Clarke, who is in his fourth campaign at BLHS.
As a junior at last year’s Mat Classic XX in the Tacoma Dome, Tracy pinned his way to the 140-pound state championship finale, but was pitted against defending state champion and nationally-ranked Derek Garcia of Sedro Woolley and lost to settle for state runnerup honors.
Joining Tracy at state and returning this season will be 130-pound junior Nick Bendon, who put up a good fight at the big event, just missing an eighth-place finish.
In the lighter weights, Clarke has penciled in freshman James Jackson at 103 pounds and senior Tyler Anderson at 112 pounds. Anderson will be filling the shoes of Hunter File, who transfered to Enumclaw High. “Although this is Tyler’s first year with the Panther program, you don’t see too many 112-pound seniors. From what I have seen so far, he is going to be tough,” Clarke said.
There is a void to fill at 119 pounds, but covering the 125 and 145 slots should be senior Pat Bendon and junior Josh Peart, respectively.
An influx of wrestling talent from America’s heartland should subsidize the Panther grappling crew nicely as junior Jared Dorsey (215 pounds) and kid brother freshman Evan Dorsey (160 to 171) are transfers from Omaha, Neb., which is most definitely wrestling country. Additionally, Joey Salgado should be fitting in somewhere on the team, perhaps at 190 pounds.
Meanwhile, barring a football lineman stepping up to volunteer as an “unlimited” 285-pound wrestler, Bonney Lake will be faced with its usual dearth of talent at that weight.
Clarke said he couldn’t wait to match holds with the newcomers to the SPSL 3A neighborhood.
“It is going to be interesting to see what kind of challenges Peninsula presents for us,” he said. “I have heard that they are an awfully tough bunch and Clover Park and Lakes have plenty of skilled wrestlers to make sure we won’t have an easy go of it with them either.”
The Panthers will open the league season at 7 p.m. Thursday when they host Clover Park. The BLHS matmen will host the Panther Invitational Saturday morning, with a dozen squads in attendance.
Reach John Leggett at jleggett@courierherald.com or 360-802-8207.
