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Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 -Mason County Journal- Page B-9
MAT CLASSIC XXVlll
North Mason High School wrestling coach Bill
tournament in the 285-pound weight class.
Journal photo by Alexandria Valdez
McCarty embraces junior Nico Ramirez after Ramirez won his match for 5th place at the state wrestling
North Mason's
Harmon does not
advance to second day
By ALEXANDRIA VALDEZ
alexandria @masoncoun corn
North Mason High School
junior Nico Ramirez had two
goals this season: make it to
state and place fifth or higher.
On Saturday, he did just that.
"I was really excited," Ramirez
said. "It was awesome to have
my amazing parents and my
amazing coaches just support-
ing me and backing me up. It
was really awesome to have
the whole crowd of our North
Mason people cheering when
I won, especially how I could
hear my mom's voice out of ev-
eryone."
The North Mason Bulldogs
had two wrestlers compete
Feb. 19-20 at the Mat Classic
XXVIII state tournament at
the Tacoma Dome. Ramirez,
wrestling in the 285-pound
class, placed fifth overall and
went 4-2 in his matches. Last
year, Ramirez was a state al-
ternate.
The other North Ma-
son state qualifier was ju-
nior Colton Harmon in the
106-pound weight class. Har-
mon went 0-2 and didn't ad-
vance to the second day. It was
Harmon's first trip to the state
tournament.
The bout for fifth place pit-
ted Ramirez against Sedro-
Woolley High School senior
Journal photo by Brianna Loper
North Mason High School junior Colton Harmon lunges at opponent Matthew Antfeldt of
Tumwater during his first match of the state wrestling tournament.
Erik Lukner. up when he stepped on the fending 285-pound state cham-
The first period was score-mat. pion. Ramirez took his lumps
less, but the action started in "He honestly wrestled his against Mullins and said he
the second period. Lukner opt- smartest match of the year was excited to just have the op-
ed to start on the bottom in the against a kid (Lukner) thatportunity to wrestle Mullins.
referee's position, and it paid beat him last time at region- At the regional meet a week
off for him as he earned anals," McCarty said. "He really ago, Harmon bruised his ribs
escape. When the period waswrestled a smart match, he when fighting for a spot at the
over, Lukner had a 1-0 lead. didn't get panicked, he didn't state tournament. Even with a
During the final period, get worried and he went theweek of light practice, the inju-
Ramirez's efforts paid off as full six minutes." ry gnawed at him throughout
he earned an escape and take- It was a good rebound for his two bouts.
down. Ramirez after starting the "I've been to a couple other
Ramirez won the match 3-1. tournament with a tough big tournaments in freestyle
Coach Bill McCarty said draw. His first opponent was (wrestling)," Harmon said. "I
Ramirez was anxious before Hunter Mullins, a senior from went to nationals a few years
the match, but finally loosened Orting High School and the de- ago, but this was just a lot dif-
ferent. The environment was
different; you're with your
team and your school. It was
way different than freestyle.
I've been in a few big tourna-
ments, but this just wasn't the
result I was looking for."
Harmon lost his first match
to Tumwater junior Mat-
thew Anfeldt, who went on
to place fourth overall. His
second and final match of
the tournament was against
Grandview High School
sophomore Adrian Benitez.
Benitez beat Harmon 9-2.
"The matches were tough; my
ribs were all banged up," Har-
mon said. "But I tried. The sec-
ond match, I fought all three
rounds and didn't get stuck."
The Bulldogs finished the
season 1-6 in the 2A Olympic
League and went 1-7 overall.
From the beginning, the Bull-
dogs didn't have enough wres-
tlers to fill out a lineup for dual
meets. They also lost experi-
enced wrestlers early in the
season, such as senior Sterling
McIntosh, to injuries.
McCarty hopes that the suc-
cess of competing at the state
tournament will help the Bull-
dogs moving into next season.
"We didn't end up near
as well as I thought because
of the early injuries and the
numbers turnout," McCarty
said. "But we had a really fun
season. I had a really good
group of kids and they had a
lot of fun. I think that's going
to translate to more people
coming out next year as they
remember how much fun they
had this year."