Dylan Morris wins state championship, Moses Lake second in team race

TACOMA — Dylan Morris was the consummate underdog.

Lacking the height and girth of a prototypical offensive lineman, the 5-foot-8 Morris worked his way onto the Columbia Basin Big Nine all-league second team this season.

Hard work has always defined Morris so when he was unable to reach the state wrestling tournament at 220 pounds as a sophomore and 195 pounds as a junior, Morris devoted himself to cutting the necessary weight to compete at 182 pounds.

The body transformation, coupled with the technique that has always been there, propelled Morris into the upper echelon of wrestlers in his new weight class.

After qualifying for his first state tournament with a regional championship, Morris made the most of his lone trip to the Tacoma Dome and walked away with a state championship, defeating Levi Meinzinger of University 6-4 in the finals.

“I’m just waiting for someone to wake me up like I keep saying,” Morris said. “This is a dream. There’s no way it can be real. I dreamed about this and it’s actually happened so there’s no words I can put it in because I’m a state champ.”

Morris carved a methodical path through his bracket, winning in the first round 6-1, in the quarterfinals 5-2 and the semifinals 2-1. And in the finals he met familiar foe Meinzinger.

After losing to him at the Tri-State Tournament, Morris bested Meinzinger at Dream Duals and at the regional tournament.

However, Meinzinger scored the first take-down and led 2-1 after two rounds. Morris chose the neutral position and conceded a point to start the third round. Down 3-1, Morris evened the match with a take-down before Meinzinger escaped to go ahead 4-3.

Pushing the pace, the Moses Lake way, Morris was awarded a point when Meinzinger was called for stalling. Tied 4-4 with time winding down, Morris scored the decisive take-down with less than 10 seconds to go and, during a break in the action to clean up blood, was urged on by a cheering section chanting his name.

“I’ve dreamed about it,” he said. “I’ve seen it a million times. Ever since he beat me at Tri-State I said never again will I lose to Levi Meinzinger and I haven’t. I beat him three times in a row.”

The final seconds ticked away and Morris was a champion.

“I can talk for hours about Dylan, but he is your true example of a kid that works hard, believes in the philosophy, the technique and bought into the philosophy of believing that you are a champion,” head coach Jaime Garza said. “Once you start believing it’s amazing what can happen... I feel like Dylan took advantage of his four years and got the most out of it and I was really pleased with that.”

Morris’ win capped what was considered a disappointing tournament for Moses Lake.

Lake Stevens pulled away during the consolation matches to win the team title with 121 points. Moses Lake was runner-up for the second time in three years with 103 points.

“The expectation that we had was after a great regional tournament that we’re going to go out there and win this tournament,” Garza said. “We lost six matches in overtime and that can’t happen. It’s hard to pull out a big tournament win and lose that many matches in overtime. For those seven guys that placed, I’m proud of them. I’m proud of the way they wrestled.”

The Chiefs finished with seven placers: Morris, Nick Hara (120), Hudson Mauseth (170), Cooper McCullough (132), Hunter Cruz (138), Joel Torres (160) and Chandler Fluaitt (285).

Cruz finished fourth after losing in the quarterfinals and Torres worked his way back up to sixth place after losing his first match.

Fluaitt and McCullough were knocked out of the championship bracket in the semifinals and placed sixth and fifth, respectively.

McCullough was denied a third straight trip to the finals after another crushing overtime loss to a Beard from Central Valley; this time it was Bridger. Tied 1-1 in triple overtime, McCullough was unable to hang on and Beard scored the match-winning escape.

“Cooper had a tough loss in the semifinals that drug on for one more match and then he was able to come back and beat a tough kid from Tahoma to earn fifth place and be a three-time state placer, which is a feat that not too many people get to experience,” Garza said.

Hara lost to Sunnyside’s Jacob Mendoza 7-5 in overtime of the 120-pound finals and Mauseth was unable to deny Lake Stevens’ Michael Soler history. Soler defeated Mauseth 14-6 to become a four-time state champion.

“This tournament is so much different than any other tournament we go to and not to discredit any of the other tournaments, but it’s what prepares us for this tournament,” Garza said. “Some people know how to turn it on and some people it’s tough to be able to go out there and wrestle your best match four straight matches to be able to win this thing.”