112 Preview:  This group is full of tough kids and the state champ this year will simply be the one who has the best day in February.  I think all six of the ranked wrestlers are capable of winning a title, and several of the honorable mentions as well.  We will have to see if someone rises to the top as the dominant wrestler during the season or else, the MatClassic will have a Battle Royal at this weight, especially in the 4A division.  Last year Vela was runner-up to Martin Salinas in league and regionals and lost to Fish at Tri-state.  None the less, Vela had a great state tournament on the way to the 4A title.  I don't know much about Fairley except what I saw as he came from behind to beat Decker in the finals and therefore he gets the second ranking.   Decker was the odds on favorite to win state last year after winning Tri-State, Pacific Coast and the Steel Claw Classic but Fairley intervened. Koontz from Enumclaw is another tough kid from the SPSL who was league and regional champ last year.  Koontz beat Gilbertson for the Region I title but lost by one point to him at state.  Martin Salinas had only 1 loss going into state last year and that was to Vela in the dual meet.  He beat Vela at districts and regionals.  He lost to Gilbertson in 2 OT at state and then lost to Hayes before re-grouping and beating Fish for 7th place.  He may be too big for 112 but if there, he is a strong title threat.  

119 Preview:  What can you say about the #1 guy that hasn't already been said?   Intermat has him ranked in the top 100 seniors in the entire country.  Rodriquez has been winning tournaments for as long as I can remember including Schoolboy and Cadet National Titles!  He was 2nd as a freshmen at state and has been the champion the past two years.  Rodriquez is such a force that if he goes 119, you will see other guys move up or down a weight like they did when Burke Barnes dropped to 125 for his senior year.  119 might be a good place for a young, upcoming wrestler to be at state if he is looking for a medal in the 2-8 range as Mike may push out the title contenders to other weight classes.  On the other hand, if he goes 125, I have to redo the 119,125 and 130 rankings!

Paul Klein took state in 3A last year after placing 6th and 3rd his first two years.  He will be the favorite in the 3A division.  Adam France (USA Everett alumni) began coaching at Newport a few years ago and John Bennett is one of his best protégé's.  He won state as a freshman but found the move up in weight to 112 to be tough and took 5th last year.  He cranked it up a notch with summer wrestling and earned AA honors in Fargo.  Watch out for a 2A title run.

125 Preview:  I have really changed my weight class predictions from my initial preview in September of this year and have moved in several contenders that I previously had at 119.   I still have Justin Davidson as my number one pick, but this could be a really brutal group with the next 4-5 guys all in contention for a title. Justin Davidson has wrestled for years and has a wealth of experience but so have others in the group. 

Ricky Yeager won a title last year at the brutal 4A 112 weight class after placing 3rd as a sophomore.  He will give Davidson a good run for the money, as can the next several guys.  Jake Gonzales has a great attitude and work ethic which has served him well.  He lost to Yeager in the 2003 HS finals and was #2 nationally in Greco-Roman in 2002 as a Cadet.  He will lead a strong Enumclaw team.  Cory Vonbaur has placed both years in HS, 2nd as a freshman and 3rd as a Sophomore.   Tough kid who clings to you like glue and focuses on winning close matches, which he does with regularity. 

135 Preview:  Number one pick here is Tony Kubec of Lake Stevens.  Last year his only loss in high school was to Tyler Sherfey who will most likely be at 145 this year.  Sherfey will be wrestling for Boise State next year so that is pretty stiff competition to lose to and it was so very close last year.  Unless something very unusual happens, Kubec wins the title this year.  Second ranked is Grant Nakshima who took 4th in 4A losing to Kubec in that match.  Kipperberg in 3rd comes from a family of tough wrestlers and his older brother won the title at 119 in 2002.  His brothers only loss that year was to Tony Kubec at regionals.  Kipperberg could be a contender to be in the finals this year. 

140 Preview: I had picked Tyler Sherfey as the cream of the crop in my first preview but now I hear he will be at 145.  That means that Greg Ford moves into the top ranked spot.  Greg Ford is tough as nails and has been around forever.  I first saw him at the kids state freestyle in 1993 when I took my son to his first state meet.  My mother was there and told me to watch this little boy wrestle (he was about 50 lbs), as his abilities had caught her attention.  Unknown to us at the time was that he was in the same group as our teammate, and next door neighbor (Kent) who had gone with us to state.  Needless to say, Greg ruined Kent's undefeated season and has been racking up wins ever since.  Greg was at Heritage last year but word on the street has him back at Olympia.  At either school, he will be around when the medals are handed out.

Lots of freestylers in this group as the next one is Ian Richards who took forth in 4A last year and was on the Cadet Dual team in 2002.  I haven't seen Chris Stewart wrestle but all I have heard is great things so he gets the pick for 3rd to start the season.  Next pick is Alex Pitsch who is the last in a stellar line of brothers (Dan and Pat) that wrestled for Spanaway Lake High School.  He was Cadet state freestyle champion last year where he defeated Tim Whitley for the title.  It is his first year in high school but he should hit the ground running.  Tim Whitley is my pick for 5th after taking 4th in 4A 125 last year as a freshman.  I first heard of this guy back about the time I first saw Ford!

145 Preview:  Picking number one in this group is tough as two of my favorite wrestlers are Sherfey and Bounds.  I think Bounds could give him a good go in Greco-Roman but I have to give the nod to Sherfey in both FS and Folkstyle.  As a result, Tyler Sherfey is my number one pick at 145.   Sherfey and Rodriguez (119) might be the two best seniors in the state and they are on the same high school team.  Tyler was 3rd as a freshman, 2nd as a sophomore and 1st in state as a junior.  He earned AA honors in Fargo last year and wrestled extremely well at Junior duals including a win over highly touted Angel Cejudo of Arizona.  With Kubec at 135, I don't know if there is anyone at 145 (4A) that can push him, let alone beat him.   He keeps improving every year and his best wrestling may still be in his future with college.

Kyle Bounds is another exceptional wrestler and won high school titles as a freshman and a sophomore.  If he continues to wrestle at the top of his game he has a chance at joining the current 3 man club of Washington four-time state champs.  Kyle was on the Cadet National Dual team in 2002 & 2003 and did great both years.  He has been in the USAW finals each of the last 3 years and has 2 national titles!  During greco matches with Kyle, you always keep your eyes on the match because he can throw a 5 pointer at any time.  Last year some people wanted to count Kyle out of the title chase because of some tough losses he had earlier in the high school season.  Winning titles is about wrestling the best on a given day and also, being the "healthiest" at the right time.  Kyle had some injuries during the season and was not 100% until he hit the state meet.  Others at state had the misfortune of getting sick at the worst possible time.  What you saw at state in 2003 was a healthy Kyle, and a big winner!

152 Preview:  Another really tough call to make here is between Sewell and Dorward.  I'm picking Sewell although I could just as easily pick Dorward.  It's to bad they are in different divisions and may not meet this year.  Last year, both of them had great seasons, right up to the Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.   Dorward was bracketed for a showdown with Bounds at state last year but I understand he had some health issues come up at the worst possible time, the state meet!  He was beaten in the semi-finals and then injury defaulted to 6th place.  If healthy, he can go with anyone, anywhere.  Two or three  years ago at nationals he went 0-2 but some guy came on my message board asking who Dorward from Washington was.  I'm going by memory but he was totally impressed and I think the guy said Tony lost by 1 pt to the #1 ranked sophomore and by 1 point to the #2 ranked sophomore.  Talk about a bad draw!  If I remember right they were Ryan Davis and Brandon Mason, two HUGE names in wrestling over the past 2 years.

160 Preview:  Michael Johnson is my top choice at 160 and last year he won just about everything including, Tri-State, districts and regionals.  He had defending state champ, Brandon Hunter in his group but Brandon was out with a broken ankle until districts.  He forfeited to Johnson at districts and regionals taking 2nd in both and having lots of close matches in making it to the finals.  At state it was more of the same as Johnson cruised to the finals and Hunter had some close matches on the way to the finals.  I don't know if Hunter was sandbagging or what prior to the finals but when he came out for the match with Johnson, he absolutely unloaded a seasons worth of frustration on the young sophomore and won his second title, going undefeated for a second year.  This year will be different as Johnson has a year's worth of high school experience and I think he may go undefeated this winter.  Johnson is also a longtime kid's wrestler along with two other brothers that you'll be hearing about in the near future.

Number 2 goes to Troy Hanson of Enumclaw who placed 7th last year.  I first heard of Troy through his posts on the message boards and then watched him go through the field pretty easily at the Regional tournament in Snohomish.  He seems like a pretty tough customer.  Brent Larson is from Cascade High School in Everett and although he didn't make it to state last year, he did take 7th as a sophomore.  Brent was the WESCO North champ last year beating both Willie Ward and Brent Orr.   Last year his group at regionals was brutal and he and Ward were both left watching in the dome from the stands after they both placed the year before.  Brent has an unorthodox style and does well with it due to his uncanny balance and sense of position.  Norman Orr beat Brent in the WESCO dual meet and went on to place 5th at state.  This is another wrestler that may be up another weight group at 171 but he is a definite contender.

171 Preview:  Dustin Haukenberry, another Cadet Dual Team member from 2002 is my choice in  the 171 group.  Dustin is the younger brother of 2X state champ Anthony Haukenberry and is on his way to matching or possibly beating that feat if he can win 2 more titles.  A rough, hardnosed wrestler who I saw display a lot of mental toughness at the Cadet Duals and at the Tacoma Dome last year.  He'll be tough to beat. 

Ranked second is Mark Dodge who took 4th in 4A last year at state and was on the Cadet team with Dustin in 2002.  In third and fourth are a junior and a senior that will contend for the title in their respective divisions, Brian Horanski and Carlile Scott.  The reason I give the number four pre-season spot to Carlile is based on his potential.  Last year he ended up 7th in state but last spring he placed in the GR division of the FILA Cadet Nationals and more importantly, he beat David Craig there, 10-0!  David Craig is a many time national champion from Florida that won a Cadet National title this past summer in Fargo.  I also based it on the GR run he made at Cadet Duals in 2002 when he went undefeated, including "cloths lining" one guy off the whistle for a 5 second pin.  The last thing he has going for him is that he is just plain, hysterically, funny when he wants to be!

189 Preview:  What can you say about this group?  It is loaded with talented kids and is a hard one to call.  Chet Slevin gets the call for 1st but the next several guys are real close.  Chet has been wrestling since he was about 5 years old and won 7 state freestyle titles from 1991-1999.  He has won titles all over the country and I first met Chet at a tournament in Tulsa, OK back in 1995.  It was the AAU Grand Nationals and I think Chet took first in all three styles.  Next is Kyle Bressler who was state champ last year in 4A over Scott Labrash by fall.  Labrash beat him by decision the week before at regionals so this could be a real toss up.

215 Preview:  Garrett Johnson is a beast!  My pick as pre-season number one in a group that includes several, agile big men.  Garrett will be going for his third HS state title and also placed well last year at FILA Cadet Nationals.  He was on the Cadet Dual team in 2002 and was a great asset as he crushed most of the opposition he faced.  Jay Carlile is ranked second after placing 2nd and 3rd the past two years at the Mat Classic. Jay is another of the kids with years of experience on the freestyle circuit and has always been one of my favorites to watch. Jay is a throwing machine in freestyle/Greco-Roman and has earned All-American honors on numerous occasions over the past 10 years.

275 Preview:  This is a tough group for me to rank as I don't think I have really watched any of these guys wrestle other than Farmer and Vandermolen.  Sommer is from my Region and I have heard he is very tough and he is my top pick as the returning state champ at 3A in 2003.  Nick Berry of Vashon is another one that I hear is very good and I believe he beat Shaw in the finals last year by only a point so Shaw is obviously tough as well.  If my memory is correct, Shaw wrestled for the Washington Junior Dual team last year in Oklahoma.  The results were probably not what Shaw wanted when he went back there but let me tell you, the competition at Junior Duals is a whole different level than what he faced while wrestling in state last year.  That experience, although painful, has a way of turning boys into men and he might kick it to a higher level and take Berry out.  We'll have to wait and see what develops.