The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) canceled all boys’ and girls’ regional wrestling tournaments last weekend because of threatening weather conditions, including the 1B/2B regional tournament that was scheduled for Saturday (Feb. 9) in Oroville. The WIAA instead created 32-entry brackets for the 2019 Mat Classic state meet in Tacoma that begins on Friday (Feb. 15).
As a result, four Liberty Bell High School boys who qualified to compete in the regionals are now scheduled to compete in the 1B/2B division at the Mat Classic:
• freshman Cody White at 106 pounds. He will have a first-round bye and then wrestle Cory Perryman of Reardan in the second round.
• junior Jed McMillan at 120 pounds. He will have a first-round bye and then wrestle the winner of a match between Mason Baker of Pomery and Meric Jackson of Rainier.
• freshman Noah Holston at 145 pounds. He will face Ethen Tesch of Wilbur-Creston in the first round.
• sophomore Bodie Paul at 160 pounds. He will face Skyler Henery of Davenport in the first round.
Finals are on Saturday (Feb. 16).
At last year’s Mat Classic, Liberty Bell senior Finlay Holston claimed the 1B/2B 195-pound title.
Jed McMillan also wrestled at 120 pounds at the 2018 Mat Classic. McMillan lost his first match to Mason Baker of Pomery. In the consolation bracket, McMillan was defeated by the eventual fourth-place winner.
Paul wrestled at 145 pounds in last year’s state meet. He opened the tournament with a first-round victory over Cade Noah of St. John-Endicott. In the second round, Paul was defeated by Lucas Ashley of Adna. Paul came back with a win over Ted Lester of Rainier, advancing to the semifinals of the third-place bracket. In the semis, Paul faced eventual third-place winner Ethen Tesch of Wilbur-Creston, who won with a pin.
Liberty Bell scored 29 points to finish 16th out of 44 teams at the 2018 meet. At the 2017 Mat Classic, Liberty Bell finished 23rd.
