Five Chewelah wrestlers head to Mat Classic

February 16, 2012

Chewelah’s Russell Smith.

The Jenkins High wrestling team will be moving five wrest­lers on to Mat Classic XXIV this week in Tacoma after a suc­cessful regional tournament at Colville High School last Sat­urday.
As a team, Chewelah fin­ished sixth in the 12 team tour­nament and after their ifth place showing in the six-team Northeast A League District tournament, coach Patrick Mitchell was very pleased.
“It was the best tournament we wrestled as a team all year,” Mitchell said.
He added that “all nine guys that I took had a shot (at state). I felt we left everything out on the mat and I was very pleased with how we ended up.”
The Cougars that will be mov­ing on to Tacoma are Ian Cox (132), Dalton Mudgett (145), Russell Smith (152) Adam Collins (170) and Josh Hanley-Podoll (195). Walker Mudgett (106) and Dustin Olson (220) finished in fifth place and coach Mitchell knows that will be mo­tivation for next season.
“They were right there,” Mitchell said. “It was a bummer that they didn’t make it into the top four, but they’re young and will be back. It’s hard, but they will be better next year because of it. Overall, I felt is was a great tournament.”
Coach Mitchell gave a quick de­scription of each wrestler go­ing to state.
Ian Cox: “Ian is a pretty tough wrestling kid. He was out for half the season with a broken hand and since he has been back, he’s been opening some people’s eyes. Ian is very solid and listens well.”
District champion, Dalton Mudgett: “Dalton took 4th at state last year; he’s set himself up to make a good solid, run at a state title this year. Dalton is a tough wrestler and can be really stubborn to make sure he’s the guy getting his hand raised at the end of the match. I’m really excited for his state tournament to see what he can do.”
Russell Smith: “He’s one of the hardest workers in the room; he came up one match short last year of making it to state and was a man on a mis­sion to make sure he made it this year. He’s a guy I think will do well at Tacoma.”
Adam Collins: Adam is a tough kid as well. He goes hard all the time and pushes the oth­er guys. He’s a good, intense wrestler looking to score when he’s on the mat.”
Josh Hanley-Podoll: “Josh is a freshman this year and took his lumps early because of the weight he’s at. You mostly wrestle junior and senior guys. He stuck with it and took the coaching we threw at him every day. He has continued to get better...he picked up some con­fidence and took off from there.”

Team scoring: Colville 201, Chelan 191, Riverside 171, Lakeside 135, Omak 119, Chewelah 102, Tonasket 94, Freeman 81.5, Cashmere 63, Cascade 12, Okanogan 12, Newport 0.

Championship finals

145: D. Mudgett (Chw) p. Trudeaux (Oma)
152: Ta. Glidewell (Fre) p. Smith (Chw)

Consolation finals
132: Cox (Chw) d. Nelson (Col) 8-4
170: Collins (Chw) md. Crab­tree (Riv) 13-2
195: A. Schwartz (Che) p. Han­ley-Podoll (Chw).