Story and photo by Doug Petrowski

MTHS junior Syd Springberg placed fourth in the 170-lb. weight class at the 3A Region IV Wrestling Tournament in Sunnyside over the weekend. The finish qualified Springberg for the state championships, Mat Classic XXV, at the Tacoma Dome beginning on Friday, Feb. 15.

Springberg, ranked fifth in state in his class by WashingtonWrestlingReport.net, picked up two victories at regionals; his only two loses were to fellow state tournament qualifiers Sisto Pina of Kamiakin and Max Ramos of Sunnyside.

The 16-man bracket in the 170-lb. class at state is loaded with talent; 11 of the top 12 state-ranked wrestlers in the class qualified for the tourney. Springberg’s first match in the double-elimination tournament is scheduled to be Courtney Shavers of Oak Harbor on Friday.

No other Terrace wrestlers qualified for the state tournament. “It was a tough weekend for the Hawks’ wrestling team,” said coach Kanoe Vierra. Hawks Trung Banh, Taron Castleton and Brett Potter all went 0-2 in their weight classes. Mountlake Terrace finished 14th in the team standings at regionals with 13 points, all courtesy of Springberg’s performance.

Mountlake Terrace and the other 3A Wesco South squads were assigned to the tough Eastern Washington Region IV for state qualifying, disappointing many of the team coaches. Vierra cited long travel and missing classes as reasons he oppose sending Western Washington teams across the Cascades for regionals. “We tried our best to voice our opinion,” Vierra said, “but the WIAA made the assignment.”

Travel for Springberg and Vierra won’t be as much of an issue for state with the tournament being held in Tacoma. “We’ll be going down on Thursday to prepare, then Syd will have his first matches on Friday.”

Mat Classic XXV is made up of four sessions of wrestling competition beginning Friday at 10 a.m. Wrestling action continues on Saturday, culminating with match finals starting at approximately 5:15 p.m. The weekend includes a presentation of Coach of the Year Awards on Friday and a parade of athletes celebration of Saturday.

Doors to the Tacoma Dome open at 8:45 a.m. each day. Admission is $15 per day for adults and students without valid ASB cards, $11 for students with ASB cards, seniors 62 and older and children 11 and younger. Two-day passes are $23 for adults and students with valid ASB, $17 for students without ASB card, seniors and children.

?3A Region IV Wrestling Tournament team results

University 228 points

Sunnyside 168

Mount Spokane 115.5

Glacier Peak 107

North Central 104.5

Kamiakin 67

Shadle Park 61.5

Rogers 50

Southridge 46

Kennewick 44

Shorewood 42.5

Meadowdale 42

Hanford 35

Mountlake Terrace 13

Shorecrest 0