THE “TAHOMA DOME” LEGACY

In 1991 and in 1996, the Tahoma wrestling program, was at the top of its game under head coach Russell Hayden. Sixteen years later the Bears are again on top of the Wrestling world as they took the State title this past weekend for only the third time in the program’s history. With an historical 16 wrestlers on their way to the Tacoma Dome, inclusive of 106 Todd Link, 113 Sam Schuessler, 113 Tim Whitehead , 120 Blake Hoyal (alternate), 120 Cruz Velasquez, 126 Jesse Vaughn, 126 Steve Hopkins, 132 Gabe Boynay, 132 Joey Palmer, 145 Tanner Mjelde, 152 Dan Haniger, 170 Garret Autry, 182 Austin Perry, 195 Matt Hopkins, 220 Aaron Davis, and 285 Ed Torres, our legacy was born.

The twenty-fourth Mat Classic was a true drag race to the finish, between state powerhouses Tahoma, who scored a State record 190 team points and Mead, who was only a half point from the previous record with 168.5 points with Graham Kapowsin in the hunt as well with 134 points. The Bears Championship run began only four short months ago, where the boys came together and set their goals higher than ever before; they were going to win State, and they did so in fashion on Saturday night. The Bears brought a 4A high fifteen wrestlers and an alternate into the state tournament, numbers that exceeded the State high eleven from years ago, from a team that only took ninth place.

Aaron Davis wrestled for a combined total of 3 minutes and 13 seconds over four matches, as he posted four first-round pins and brought home the 220-pound championship. Alone, he accumulated 30 of the Bears’ cumulative 190 points and set a school record by doing so. Davis’ tournament was highlighted not just for the speed or points he put forth but more so the people he wrestled. Davis wasn’t predicted to be in the finals at State and wasn’t even the champion of the region, yet he turned things around in the tournament, upsetting the one, four, and six seeds in the tournament. In his second match of the tournament Davis faced the one seed, and right off the whistle Puyallup’s Matt Voss shot in and dropped Davis to his back. Yet Aaron wasn’t going to give up. He fought off his back and caught Voss in a cradle, the same move he used to pin each wrestler on his way to the finals. But his finals match was the most memorable, when twenty seconds into the match Davis caught Jake Hollister in a slide-by throw and pinned him in only thirty-three seconds.

Along with Davis Tahoma’s newest member of the program Joey Palmer, a state champion for Rogers High School in Puyallup, made his third state finals appearance with a chance to defend his title against Adam Romano from GK. Heading into Palmer’s match the Bears had a chance to lock up the tournament with a win from just one of the Bears four finalist. The odds were in favor of the Bears who could only have lost the tournament if Mead had a miraculous finals round comeback. The Mead Panthers would have needed a pin from all six of their finalists. Palmer stopped those dreams in their place in a short three minutes, as he controlled the tempo of the match, scoring his shots, and putting the pressure on Romano. Palmer finished it all up in an even three minutes with a pin.

With Palmer and Davis, Tim Whitehead and Steven Hopkins were both in the State finals scoring the Bear’s ten points from Hopkins and eleven from Whitehead. But the Bears championship wasn’t won from the four finalist’s great run. The tournament was won in the backdoor, where six of the remaining eleven wrestlers placed top eight. The dominating other wrestlers included, Todd Link at eighth, Cruz Velaquez at fourth, Gabe Boynay at fourth, Tanner Mjelde at fifth, Garrett Autrey at third, Matt Hopkins at fourth.

Many thanks and congratulations to our Coaching Staff, Head Coach Chris Feist, assistant Coaches; Brian Higa, Boomer Burnham, Gene Hopkins, Tim Kitchen, Willie “The Law” Sheriff, Mike Segar, and Kevin Kooyman. Thanks also to our Team managers: Jessica Cowles, Alexis Bayer, Deanna Hokenson and Emma Autry.

Photo by Laura Hokenson.