Chiefs crown two champions

by Pam ROBEL<br>Herald Sports Editor
| February 19, 2007 8:00 PM

TACOMA — Six of Moses Lake's wrestlers placed in the top four at Mat Classic XIX.

Two earned individual championships and another four took fourth place finishes in their respective weight classes.

The placings earned Moses Lake a third-place finish on the board with 121 points. Only Lake Stevens with 148.5 and Pasco with 135.5 outpaced the Chiefs.

Before the finals Saturday, long-time wrestling coach John Wagner was formally presented to the assembled crowd as one of the newest members of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame.

"Right now we couldn't ask for more from the kids," said Moses Lake head coach Jamie Wise. "All the kids did what they had to and came through the back door. They all did what they could to earn extra points and kept battling."

John Fackrell and Brett Fredericksen ran their brackets to bring back individual titles at 189 and 215 pounds respectively.

"John's ability to attack the legs and Brett's athleticism helped them this weekend," said Wise. "John goes in with more of a game plan for what he is going to do and Brett has to react in his matches."

Fackrell earned a technical fall at 3:21 in the first round against Nathan St. Martin of Juanita and recorded an 8-2 victory over Erick Halsey of Emerald Ridge in the second round of competition Friday. He opened Saturday with a pin of Jared Walsh of Kentlake to enter the championship match.

Fackrell won 9-1 against Tim Hester in the finals to earn a championship.

Fredericksen spent one minute on the mats Friday. It took a mere 29 seconds for Fredericksen to pin Jeff O'Connor of Curtis in the first round and 32 seconds to pin Steven Hagdahl of Decatur in the second round. He began Saturday with a 5-4 victory over Zak Rydzak of Mariner to earn a spot in the finals.

Fredericksen faced Brandon Richardson of Heritage in the finals and won a tight 6-5 match.

The Chiefs also had four individuals place fourth in various weight classes — Gabe Guzman at 119 pounds, Matt Palmer at 125 pounds, Jordan Hill at 135 pounds and Cody Hoiness at 140 pounds.

"All the kids came out and got it done for us," said Wise.

Guzman defeated Trevor Wood of Kentlake in the first round and fell to Sam Ottow of Monroe in the second round. After losing in the second round, Guzman fell into the consolation brackets.

Saturday Guzman pinned Sean Anderson of Lake Stevens to advance in the consolation rounds and won 16-6 over Brian Bitney of Rogers-Puyallup to wrestle for third/fourth place. Guzman fell 9-5 to Philip Smith of Mead.

Palmer swept his first two matches Friday. He defeated Alex Pelligrini of Lake Stevens 9-4 in the first round and won a 4-3 bout over Cody Quinn of Kentwood in the second round.

Saturday Palmer lost 19-3 to Brian Owen of University to fall into the consolation rounds. In his first consolation match, Palmer defeated Steven Loos to qualify for the third/fourth place bout but fell 10-4 to Quinn whom he'd defeated earlier in the tournament.

"The coaches just told us to go out and try our hardest," said Palmer.

Hill was defeated in his first match Friday, falling to Daniel Link of Mariner. Hill wrestled two more matches Friday, defeating Zach Yeaple of Thomas Jefferson and Sergey Litovkin of Juanita.

"Jordan (Hill) having four pins in the back door for us is huge," said Wise. "The kids have done all they could do for the team."

Saturday Hill beat Matt Terrill of Tahoma and Franco Cruz of Central Kittitas to wrestle for third/fourth place. Hill was defeated by Troy Walker of Snohomish 5-2.

"I wish I could have gotten third but sometimes that's the way things turn out," said Hill.

Hoiness swept his first two rounds of competition Friday defeating Michael Mcalister of Rogers-Puyallup and Ryan Patterson of Kentwood.

In the first round Saturday, Hoiness was defeated by Anthony Varnell of Lewis and Clark who went on to take the state title. Hoiness then defeated Nick Garcia of Davis to qualify for the third/fourth match. He was defeated 4-2 by Elliott Nay of University to place fourth.

"A big reason the kids did so well was because a bunch of the old guys came in and helped out during practice all season," said Wise. "A lot of credit goes to them."

Moses Lake's other two qualifiers, Ty Sainsbury (171) and Tad Harman (285) were both eliminated from competition Friday.