WP’s Newman Returns to State

KITTITAS - WP sopho­more Tristan Newman will make his second appearance at the state wrestling tourna­ment at the Tacoma Dome this weekend, after placing fourth at the regional tourna­ment here Friday. Mat Clas­sic 26 begins Friday

WP wrestlers faced stiff competition in Kittitas. Of the four competing wres­tlers, only Newman claimed a win. He won three of his five matches, securing fourth place in the region.

Tristan Newman (285): Bye first round; pinned by Mark Daturi (Mary Walker) 3:05; pinned JJ Nahpi (Kittitas) :55; pinned Kolten Fanning (Republic) 3:50; Pinned Lane Hawks (Lind/Ritz­ville) 2:00. In the final round to determine third and fourth place stand­ing Newman lost by de­cision to Heiko Burkle (Reardan) 6-2.

According to WP Coach Lanny Adams, Newman had an oppor­tunity to watch Daturi wrestle his first match and develop a game plan. "Unfortunately, he didn't go out there and put his game action in place," said Adams. Newman's loss to Daturi placed him in the consolation bracket. "That makes for a long day when you have to wrestle more matches to get to the state tournament," said Adams.

Newman was undeterred and went on to dominate his next match, dropping Nahpi in a short 55 seconds. In his third match, Fanning at­tempted to keep his distance from Newman the entire first round. On the second round, Tristan won the toss and chose the top position. "Tristan broke him down and turned Fanning to get the pin," said Adams.

Newman pinned Hawks in his fourth match, ad­vancing to the consolation finals and securing a spot at the state tournament. In the match for 3rd/4th place, Newman faced Burkle, los­ing in a 6-2 decision.

Tyler Hoffman (220): Pinned by Kyle Martin (Kit­titas) 4:39; pinned by Matt Vercoe (Lind/Ritzville) 4:44

"Tyler started his first match with a level of inten­sity that we were looking for all year," said Adams.

"Unfortunately, he didn't pace himself and didn't have enough gas left to finish the third round."

Hoffman's second match was against Vercoe - an opponent that had defeated Hoffman sev­eral times this season. "I think that Tyler can beat him, but there might be that mental block going against Tyler," said Ad­ams. Hoffman is plan­ning to return to the mat next year.

Tyler Brooks (160):

Lost by 17-6 decision to

Dallas Pierce (Northwest Christian); pinned by Zach Hill (Wilbur/Creston) 2:40.

"Tyler encountered some tough competition. His first opponent was a tall one. Tyler had all of his moves countered and had to wrestle on the defense the entire match. In his second match he got out-wrestled by Hill who may have had a little more desire to make it to the state tournament. Tyler was very disappointed with his losses but he is determined to go to State next year," said Adams.

David Just (126): Pinned by Tommy Ott (Kittitas) 3:12; pinned by Hunter Car­man (Selkirk) 1:25.

Adams said Just wrested very hard and encountered some tough competition. "I am not one to complain about the officiating, but in David's case the ref­eree called him pinned when there was at least three inch­es between David's shoulder and the mat. We weren't sure how the referee could even see the shoulders as he was out of position," said Ad­ams. "David knows he was not pinned. He had a great first high school season and is planning to return to the mat next year, determined to make it to State!"