For Kent-Meridian senior Gerardo Suarez, the goal of reaching the championship match in the Class 4A 132-pound weight classification was going according to plan.
Until the third round, that is.
That is when Suarez’s title hopes ended when he suffered a 3-2 setback Saturday to Davis’ John Sowers in Mat Classic XXIX at the Tacoma Dome. Suarez led the match 2-0 entering the final round before Sowers scored a near fall to secure the win.
“I tried lifting him up and he hooked my leg,” Suarez said. “I landed on my back and couldn’t really get up.”
Tahoma senior Nick Whitehead later pinned Suarez in 2 minutes, 11 seconds in a bout for third place.
“Gerardo made a mistake there,” K-M coach Todd Owens said. “He pulled him on top of him instead of lifting. He kind of tripped there.”
Suarez said he was “not really satisfied” with his fourth-place performance because he was close to achieving his goal. In the championship match, Sunnyside junior Josiah Rodriguez earned a 5-1 win against Sowers.
Owens had a different perspective on Suarez’s performance, though.
“He was one point away from making it to the finals,” he said. “It was a great tournament.”
Suarez also topped his fifth-place finish last year at 126. In 2015, he finished with a 1-2 record at 120 at state.
“I think the (placement) this year had a lot more value than last year,” Owens said. “He was in a sharper crowd, for sure.”
Suarez is hopeful that he can wrestle at a junior college next year, and then move onto a four-year program in 2019.
“He’s gotten a lot of attention from some schools,” Owens said. “I think we’ll see him wrestle somewhere.”
K-M will search, he said, for someone to fill the leadership void that Suarez leaves behind.
“We’re going to miss him,” Owens said. “There’s no doubt about it. Hopefully, what he’s done has rubbed off on some of these guys – and I think it has.”
Meanwhile, Kentwood’s Blake Capperauld was fourth at 170 pounds.
Kentridge also had one state placer. Senior Joella Vi placed sixth at 135 in the girls’ bracket. She lost her final match, 2-1, to Steilacoom senior Brianna Galvan. On Friday, Galvin defeated Vi 5-4 in their quarterfinal match. Vi said that result was frustrating because her shoes came untied, which resulted in Galvin being awarded one point.
But overall, Vi said she was “really happy” to place after she lost both her matches last year at 145 at state.
Vi has wrestled for the Chargers since she was a sophomore. Her older brother, Daniel, placed second at heavyweight in 2014 at state, and she decided to follow him onto the mat after she was cut from the basketball team as a sophomore.
“I’m glad that he helped me follow my way to wrestling,” said Vi, who hopes to wrestle in college. “I think it was met for me to be cut from basketball. I’m really grateful for where I have gotten.”
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