It was championship wrest-ling, the kind dreams are made of -- in two classifications, at least, of the 2003 Washington
Dream Duals.
Twenty-four teams, six each in four classifications from throughout the region, converged at East Valley for the daylong
event, starting at 8 in the morning and ending just before 10 at night.
Defending state team champions, 3A Sedro Woolley and 1A/B Warden rolled over their respective opponents in the final contests.
But it took a last-match 5-3 victory by Othello's Tony Cantu to rally the Huskies past Mount Baker 34-32 in the 2A final.
And the 4A classification, won by Heritage, from southeast Washington, 31-22 over last year's Dream Duals winner Lake Stevens,
defied description.
"It's been wild today," said EV coach and meet director Craig Hanson. "Wrestling is a game of matchups, and it totally
was that way."
Five of the six 4A teams in the competition came in undefeated in their respective leagues. All six finished with 1-1 records
in the three-team pools, necessitating criteria to sort it out.
In one instance, after all the criteria were exhausted and teams were still tied, it took a trip to the rule book to settle
things based upon, of all things, unsportsmanlike conduct deductions.
Enumclaw had left after tying with Lake Stevens and Moses Lake, thinking it was top seed only to learn later it was wrestling
for fifth place.
"We didn't realize at the time disqualification would factor in," said Hornets coach Lee Reichert, whose team was third
last year. "It's a bit of a disappointment, but that's the way it goes. We won two of three matches and lost the one by two
points. We came to get better and did that."
Heritage had lost to Eastmont. The Knights thumped Eastmont, but lost to Heritage in their pool. EV ultimately beat Moses
Lake for third.
In the title bout, the Timberwolves and Vikings locked in a dandy. So close were the individual contests that they still
had five to wrestle after the other three classification champions had been determined.
The teams swapped leads and ties in eight straight matches before freshman Anthony Hayes won by pin for Heritage at 103.
There was still a chance, if Lake Stevens won the last two by decision, that the teams would end tied and have to go to
criteria again.
But after Viking Lester Brown edged Ricky Yeager 3-2 in a match between state placers, Lake Stevens forfeited the final
contest.
"The sixth-place team will walk out of here with their tail between their legs, but shouldn't hang their heads," said Hanson.
"This is what makes these duals so exciting."
Othello beat State 2A powers Lakeside on tiebreaker criteria and Mt. Baker in a pair of thrillers. The Nine Mile Falls
Eagles rallied for third place.
"It was a great match that went down to the wire," said coach Scott Jones. "We were counting on young kids to do big things.
We were just a little under-experienced. But it was really a great growth day."
Sedro Woolley and Warden flexed their collective muscles in their finals.
The Cubs, clinched victory over Columbia River by the 10th of 14 bouts and recorded seven pins en route to a 58-10 romp
to the 3A championship.
Warden secured the 1A/B title even sooner, by the ninth match and had seven pins during its 58-12 win over Tonasket.
Othello and Lakeside tied 30-30, but the Huskies won eight individual matches to the Eagles' six.
In the championship match, a Mount Baker wrestler was docked two team points for unsportsmanlike conduct that helped the
Othello to its final margin on a day where such things mattered most.
John Bennett (112 pounds), Chad Hogg (119) and Clinton Teeples (125) finished the meet with pins to rally Newport from
a 36-24 deficit to a 42-36 win over host Pullman in the Great Northern League.
Newport (4-1) won a big match at 160, with Jared Skiles edging J.J. Fairbanks 10-8. Pullman (1-3) led 36-24 after forfeit
wins at 215 and 275, and Bart Church's pin at 103.
