Waitsburg Wrestling Event Draws 2,000

WAITSBURG - It may not have brought quite as many people to town as Cycle Oregon did last year. But in the world of youth wrestling, Waitsburg hit the big time this weekend as host of a 17-team tournament that attracted close to 2,000 visitors on Saturday.

"It was exciting," said Kari Newman, co-founder of Waitsburg's Matbirds club, which is affiliated with the larger Washington State Little Guy Wrestling Association, an organization that has 70 clubs statewide.

For five weeks starting in early March every year, the association holds five large regional tournaments like the one in Waitsburg on a rotating basis. This was the city's first time as a host community, and the impressive turnout took a lot of local residents by surprise.

"I thought there might be a few hundred people," said Larry Johnson, who volunteered to prepare meals for the visitors as a member of the Lions Club.

Newman said overall the event went relatively smoothly.

"It was a lot of work, and we ran into a few hiccups," she said. "But it's a learning experience. A lot of coaches came up to us and told us this was a great first tournament for us."

From the balcony of the high school gym, Kison Court looked like a scene from an illustrated "Where Is Waldo" book, with a maelstrom of activity around two sets of three enormous mats borrowed from a high school in Pomeroy.

The young athletes, mostly boys but girls as well, came out of the locker rooms holding hands until they appeared before their station, shook hands and tried mightily to press their opponents' shoulders to the mat in the ensuing, doubleelimination duels that were observed passionately from the floor and the stands.

In little clusters everywhere on the court, the would-be Spartans in colorful singlets pulled, grabbed, tugged and pushed, using all their well-practiced moves, encouraged by the heated hollering from their coaches and parents who got as close as they could to the action at ground level to check for dorsal contact to the vinyl.

After those intense efforts, many younger competitors could be seen seek- ing the comfort of their mothers or fathers in the wake of a tough loss or weeping through their smiles as the ref raised their arm in victory, their families riding the emotional ups or downs as though they had themselves just participated in this ancient test of strength.

"I cry and lose right along with them or cheer and win with them," Matbird mother Lisa Norris said about her son Carlos and his teammates. "My son lives and breathes this."

Organizers had prepared for about 410 competitors plus their entourage of coaches, assistant coaches, parents and siblings. Instead, 491 showed up from as close as Walla Walla and as far as Hells Canyon. For each athlete, there were at least three or four travel companions.

Most teams' names were self explanatory: Pullman Pulverizers, Eagle Maniacs, Tri-Cities Mat Rattlers or simply Benton City Hardcore Wrestling, Pomeroy Wrestling and so on.

Complete with a flag salute and Honor Guard, the day started with a hearty breakfast at the elementary school's multipurpose room courtesy of the Waitsburg Lions Club, which served lunch several hours later. Proceeds from the meals, ticket sales and merchandise will be used to fund a Matbirds project to replace its aging mats (see editorial on page 2).

Even though Matbirds has been around for four years and doubled in size to some 45 members since then, its organizers felt they needed to have their act together before they could host their first big event for the region.

That meant investing in all the materials and supplies to equip the ref stations (score boards, first aid kits, timers, etc.), creating a backbone of volunteers, sponsors and refs, and educating the already supportive Matbirds families about what might be in store for them as hosts.

All the best plans still didn't quite prepare the 60 volunteers for the crowd that began arriving early on Saturday. The awards ceremony - medals courtesy of its sponsors: McGregor Co., Coleman Oil and Les Schwab of Walla Walla - ran an hour and a half late.

But considering almost 500 competitors had to be registered, weighed in and bracketed in classes separated by 5-pound increments, and considering that at least 1,800 individual matches had to be coordinated, it seemed like a good first start for Waitsburg, Newman and other organizers said.

"We're in the game," she observed.

The hosts said they'll do it again in a heartbeat if Waitsburg gets chosen next year or in future years as part of the ongoing host community rotation. And although the large crowd made Kison Court and the high school parking lots seem small, some other wrestling venues are even tighter for the events they host, Newman said.

Four more weeks of Little Guy wrestling now follow, culminating in the state finals at Eastern Washington University in Cheney on April 2.

The Matbirds parents, who said their only regret as hosts was that they didn't get to see all their home team's matches, now get to relax as visitors to the upcoming tournaments hosted by the other communities.

"Although it's only five weeks, I usually can't wait for the wrestling season," said Tammy Jo LaRue. She and her husband, Dan, have two sons in Matbirds: Lash, 7, and Dalton, 14, who has been a Matbird since the club started.

"This is something the whole family does," she said.