Small Mule team earns lots of medals

The Wahkiakum Mule wrestling team went to a 2A tournament at Holquim last Saturday and came home with a load of medals.

As a team they were one of the smallest in the tournament, wrestling against such teams as Elma and Woodland, yet were able to come away with fourth place.

"All of the wrestlers individually put in great performances," commented Coach Matt Stacey.

Blayne Edwards continued to be the team leader by pinning his way to first at 103. Ben Miles (140) was also in the finals match but had to injury default a very winnable match because of a deep cut over his eye in the semifinals.

"The cut was threatening to cost a forfeit in that semifinal match, so Miles went out of the injury timeout and earned a quick pin getting him into the finals," Stacey said.

Mason Mackey (119) and Adam Vasion (152) took home third place medals.

"Adam had his best tournament so far this year, winning two matches in overtime," Stacey said. “He is in such good shape that the other wrestlers are just not able to continue wrestling against him for six whole minutes. He may give up a couple early points, but by the end of the match he has wore them to a frazzle.”

Mackey is coming into these tournaments as “unseatable because he is a freshman” and having to earn his way through the brackets the hard way into the winners circle, Stacey said. Also wrestling at 152 is freshman Brandon Burdick who took sixth.

"In a similar position to Mason, Brandon had to actually wrestle a pigtail match to earn his way into this tournament as a junior varsity wrestler," Stacey said. "Wrestling at the super tough 145 lb. weight class, Nate Cothren earned fifth place.

"This means that of the 11 wrestlers who went to this tournament, six were able to bring home medals. That is a great performance for a small school at a big tournament."

This Saturday, the Mules will compete in the Rubber Chicken Tournament in Kalama. On Tuesday, they'll have their last home event of the year with an evening mix-n-match against the other teams in their district starting at 5 p.m.

"It will be a great way to end our regular season in front of the home town crowd," Stacey said. "I hope you will make it a point to come out and cheer on our boys!"