The Prep Beat

Want to know why Kingston junior Bobby Reece has won three state wrestling titles in high school? It’s because when high school season ends, Reece doesn’t stop wrestling. Like most of the sport’s best competitors, he keeps competing well into the spring and summer.

Reece claimed victory in his opening match at the National High School Coaches Association wrestling championships in Virginia Beach, Va. Reece defeated North Carolina’s Zack Winegardner with a pin in the first period in the 160-pound weight class.

Fellow Kingston junior Aaron Dickson lost his opening match at 170 pounds, losing 11-7 to Trey Ronayne of Arizona.

The tournament, which is open to freshman-senior wrestlers, began Wednesday and continues through Sunday.

North Kitsap senior Jake Velarde, who became Kitsap’s first four-time state champion in February, is not competing.

Kingston’s Bobby Reece and Sonya Redbird, North Kitsap’s Jake Velarde and Klahowya’s Adam Burchett were named MVPs of the All-Olympic League wrestling team.
All four wrestlers won state titles at Mat Classic last month. Velarde won his fourth title and Reece won his third. Redbird and Burchett were first-time winners.
Bremerton’s Jeff Barton was named the league’s top coach.
Wrestling
All-Olympic League
MVP—Bobby Reece (Kingston), Jake Velarde (North Kitsap), Adam Burchett (Klahowya), Sonya Redbird Kingston.
Coach of the year—Jeff Barton (Bremerton)
Sportsmanship—Sequim
First team boys
106—Tyler Gale, fr., Port Angeles. 113—Brady Anderson, so., Port Angeles. 120—Adam Burchett, sr., Klahowya. 126—Ozzy Swaggerty, jr., Port Angeles. 132—Brian Burchett, jr., Klahowya. 138—Jake Velarde, sr., North Kitsap. 145—Avory Acfalle, sr., Olympic. 152—Devon Gipson, sr., Bremerton. 160—Bobby Reece, jr., Kingston. 170—Aaron Dickson, jr., Kingston. 182—Matt Robbins, so., Port Angeles. 195—Darius Taylor-Jones, sr., Bremerton. 220—Rusty Hoffman, sr., Bremerton. 285—Brendan Best, sr., North Kitsap.
Second team boys
106—Johnny McClain, fr., Kingston. 113—Cameron Dubos, fr., Bremerton. 120—Isaiah Rhodenhurst, jr., Olympic. 126—Josh Tucker, sr., North Kitsap. 138—Luke Mooney, sr., Sequim. 145—Benny McMullen, sr., Kingston. 152—Marcus Vanshur, jr., Olympic. 160—Konner Langholff, so., Klahowya. 170—Zeke Gaeta, sr., Olympic. 182—Josh Henden, jr., Kingston. 195—Chase Davis, jr., North Mason. 220—Roberto Coronel, jr., Port Angeles. 285—Michael Myers, sr., Port Angeles.
Girls first team
106—Sophie Cornell, so., Sequim. 112—Lyndsey Barnhill, jr., Kingston. 118—Ivy Rodolf, sr., Kingston. 130—Kaylee Ditlefsen, so., Sequim. 137—Riley Zook, fr., Kingston. 145—Sonya Redbird, sr., Kingston.
Girls second team
118—Peyton Reece, fr., Kingston

Got official word today from Kingston High School athletic director Rachel Davenport regarding wrestling coach Bobby Reece, who’d been on administrative leave since Jan. 15.

“Bobby Reece will not be coaching for us any longer,” Davenport said in an email. “We will post the position at some point in the future. Beyond that we do not comment on personnel matters.”

Reece spent six seasons with the Buccaneers. His son Bobby Reece III recently won his third state title.

I’m scheduled to sit down with Reece next week regarding his departure from the program he started, so look for a story next week.

(NOTE: Go here for the most updated results)

Through five finals matches, four Kitsap wrestlers have won titles: Klahowya’s Adam Burchett, North Kitsap’s Jake Velarde, Kingston’s Bobby Reece and Sonya Redbird. Olympic’s Zeke Gaeta and South Kitsap’s Damien Medeiros took second.

Listed below are the championship matchups and all the placing matches.

(more…)

(NOTE: Go here for the most updated results)

We’ve reached the end of the morning session of wrestling, so here’s how our locals are faring. Out of 52 local wrestles, 28 won their first-round matches.

Three-time state champion Jake Velarde of North Kitsap didn’t have the easiest time with Colville’s Ian Cox in the morning. Velarde won 6-3, which is a lot closer than anyone probably expected considering Cox is a No. 4 seed. Let’s see how Velarde responds in the afternoon against Sumner’s Jeremy Jackson.

At Class 4A, Central Kitsap’s lone wrestler — Warren Sprecher — pinned Tahoma’s Blake Hoyle, a good start. Central Kitsap coach Mike Harter considers the 120-pound class wide open at 4A, so we’ll see if Sprecher can punch his ticket to the semifinals this afternoon against Ramon Ortiz of Evergreen (Vancouver).

South Kitsap’s Adam Gascoyne, Bryce Broome and Damien Medeiros were all winners in the morning, with all three taking close matches. Gascoyne beat Auburn’s Josh Tate 4-2, Broome edged Lewis & Clark’s Dakota Numbers 2-1 and Medeiros beat Puyallup’s Trent Nivala 1-0.

Port Angeles had a nice morning round with seven of 10 wrestlers earning wins. The Roughriders enter the afternoon round second in the Class 2A team standings with 20 points, two behind leader Orting.

At 2A in the heavyweight class, three local kids — PA’s Michael Myers, Olympic’s Umu Timoteo and Kingston’s Mick Kane each won by pin. Kane made it into state as an alternate as North Kitsap’s Brendan Best, who took second at last week’s regional tournament, was forced out because of an injury.

Four of six local girls picked up victories. Central Kitsap’s Alison Johnson, Kingston’s Ivy Rodolf and Sonya Redbird and South Kitsap’s Caeleenda Johnson advance to the quarterfinals.

EVENING SESSION

Just to get everyone caught up, we’re through all the quarterfinal matches and 13 local wrestlers have earned spots in the semifinals: Port Angeles’ Tyler Gale and Kyle LaFritz, Klahowya’s Adam and Brian Burchett, North Kitsap’s Jake Velarde, Olympic’s Avory Acfalle and Zeke Gaeta, Bremerton’s Rusty Hoffman, South Kitsap’s Damien Medeiros and Kingston’s Bobby Reece, Aaron Dickson, Ivy Rodolf and Sonya Redbird.

During Friday at Mat Classic, I usually look for two things out of our local wrestling contingent: state-title contenders taking care of business, and hopefuls trying to get in position to contend by pulling an upset or two.

Looking over the brackets on Thursday, I don’t see too many potential trap matches for our top wrestlers like North Kitsap’s Jake Velarde and Kingston’s Bobby Reece. But I did come across several potential quarterfinal matches (Friday afternoon/evening) that I’m going to want to see. Here is the best of the bunch.

My must-see quarterfinal match (again, potentially) is Klahowya’s Adam Burchett and Orting’s Austin Dodson at 120 pounds. Both wreslters are three-time state placers. Burchett has two second-place finishes and a third-place finish to his name, while Dodson was a state runner-up last season.

At Class 3A, Bainbridge’s Dylan Read, who won a title at regionals, could face Terrence McKinney of Shadle Park in the quarterfinals at 138 pounds. McKinney won a state title at 126 pounds last year.

In Class 4A, South Kitsap’s Bryce Broome could face Anthony Thomas of Evergreen (Vancouver) in the quarters. Thomas took third at state last year, but Broome is no pushover. In the heavyweight class, SK’s Damien Medeiros and Issaquah’s Jonathan Norris would be a fun late Friday matchup. Medeiros took eighth and Norris sixth last season.

The best potential quarterfinal girls matchup might be Kingston’s Sonya Redbird vs. Enumclaw’s Danielle Cormier at 145 pounds. Redbird won a title at regionals, while Cormier placed seventh at state last season.

Here is a link to a Seattle Times photo gallery reliving 25 years of Mat Classic, the state wrestling tournament held annually at the Tacoma Dome.

Some pretty cool shots in here, including one of a South Kitsap wrestler. I won’t tell you who it is, you’re going to have to do some clicking to find out.

In Friday’s paper, I’ll have a story on North Kitsap senior Jake Velarde trying to become the 10th boys wrestler to win four state titles. I’ll also have a list of our local state qualifiers.

You can start filling out brackets for your Mat Classic office pool. You’ll find all of them here.

It’s looking more and more likely that Kingston wrestling coach Bobby Reece will remain on administrative leave into the postseason.

A North Kitsap School District spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that Reece, who was put on leave after his team’s match against Olympic on Jan. 15., is still not coaching the team. Reece said last week that assistant Tim Larson is acting as the team’s coach in his absence. I assume Larson is going to coach the team at Saturday’s sub-district meet in Port Angeles, but need to get confirmation on that.

As for Reece’s future with the team, I can only speculate. Reece met with school officials to discuss his job status last Friday. Reece said Tuesday he was told by school officials that they would contact him when a decision was made about his future with the team. Reece said he wasn’t told when a decision would be made.

With the postseason about the start, I can only assume (this is pure speculation) that the school district will keep Reece on leave for the remainder of the season (the state tournament is Feb. 15-16). I just don’t see how they can decide to bring a coach back in the middle of the postseason after he’s been on leave for multiple weeks. I would see that as a disruption.

(more…)

Just got word from wrestling writer Jeff Graham, who was down in reception-starved Yelm tonight.

The Tornados beat the South Kitsap Wolves 47-15 to end a 189-match winning streak in Narrows League play. The last time SK lost a league wrestling match was to North Thurston in 1992.

Check back later and we’ll have a story and photo gallery from the match.

Update: Click here for story.