Islanders thrive at Mat Classic XXVII
Published 6:19 pm Sunday, February 22, 2015
The full range of emotions was on display during the 2015 Mat Classic XXVII Saturday, Feb. 21 at the Tacoma Dome.
The push-and-pull of a come-from-behind late tournament win. The agonizing heartbreak of defeat in a career-ending match. And the euphoria of a long-held goal finally realized.
When the dust finally settled, Mercer Island walked away with both its senior competitors at the state wrestling tournament taking the medal stand, with Evan Condon claiming the state title at 195 and Taylan Yuasa the state runner-up at 113.
Competing with a dislocated finger since regionals, Condon scored two pins and a win by decision before defeating Stanwood senior Garret Arrona in the 195 final 8-5. Soaking in his first state title, which came during the third-to-last round of the weekend, Condon admitted the wait leading up to his final match was starting to get a little nerve-wracking.
“I’ve been here before and I thought I knew how much time there’d be between the beginning and the end, but when you’re actually there waiting to step on the mat, it definitely goes by pretty slow,” Condon said. “You get in your own head a little bit. It snuck up on [me] when it did come, but luckily I was ready. It’s just a great experience.”
Coach Creighton Laughary, donned in Condon’s lucky serape at the senior’s request for his final match, beamed like a proud father, misty-eyed and smiling. He said it was a successful tournament run for two wrestling program stalwarts.
“We took two guys to state and we lost one match the whole time,” Laughary said. “Our guys battled, they worked hard to get here and it paid off. They did a really good job. They took advantage of every opportunity, which is what we asked them to do.
“We say,’weird things happen in the Dome,’ so…” he said, trailing off with a smile.
For Yuasa, it marked the end of a remarkable prep wrestling career. After scoring a pin and winning two close decisions through three rounds, Yuasa fell to last year’s 106 state champion, Clai Quintanilla of North Central, by pinfall in the 113 final.
Yuasa did his best to smile for photos and attested getting to the final round was all he wanted after injuring his knee at last year’s tournament, but it was clear the second-place medal was not the one he sought.
“Tonight was the end of my career, I have really mixed emotions about it,” Yuasa said. “It’s kind of nice to be over, but I’m sure I’ll miss it a lot. It was a great way to end in the state finals. It wasn’t what I wanted, but it was still a great place to finish.”
Getting to the 113 final was no cakewalk, as Yuasa came from behind against Edmonds-Woodway’s Sidat Kanyi. Trailing 10-7 with about 30 seconds to go in the match, Yuasa managed to score a takedown to send the match into overtime. In the extra period, Yuasa took Kanyi down again to claim a 12-10 victory.
“Taylan beat a guy in the semifinals that beat him pretty handily in the semifinals a couple years ago,” Laughary said. “That was a huge win for him. And then to wrestle a state champ, he just laid it all on the line. That was amazing.”
Seeing the final matches for two stalwarts on his varsity roster, Laughary stopped just short of calling the moment bittersweet.
“They’re going on to bigger and better things, great things,” Laughary said. “As high school coaches, this is what we do. We just coach ’em up every year, and we got a new crop and some guys returning. It’s sad we don’t have those particular guys, but if we did, something would be wrong.”
