For the second time in school history, Eastside Catholic is home to a state champion wrestler.
Sophomore Matt Iwicki won the 3A title at 120 pounds for the Crusaders with a 5-0 decision over Kiegen Schauer of Mount Spokane on Saturday to cap a near-flawless season.
A third-place finisher at last year’s Mat Classic, Iwicki opened the tournament with a 16-0 technical fall over Zack Moore of Hazen before winning an injury defeat over Lincoln’s Avery Meyer. Wil Treadwell of Prarie had been unstoppable in his first two matches, winning by tech fall and pin, before meeting Iwicki, who won the match by fall in the third and final round.
After the disappointment of missing out on a state title as a freshman, Iwicki said the feeling this year was unparalleled.
“My dad was right there in the corner,” he said. “Just being able to hug everyone and cheer, it was a great feeling.”
Schauer took three decisions before being dominated in the title match by Iwicki, who collected a laundry list of accolades and trophies including Metro and district championships on his run to the program’s first individual state title at Mat Classic.
The EC sophomore was dominating this year, suffering only a pair of defeats all season, and said the motivation for this year began as soon as the final whistle sounded on his semi-final defeat in 2012.
“There was a lot of motivation from my coach, my dad and all my training partners,” he said. “After that loss, all I wanted to do was place as high as possible.”
Between prep seasons, Iwicki competed for Eastside Wrestling Club in Freestyle and Greco tournaments, qualifying for Nationals. He will take the same approach this time around and said training for the club season begins next week. But even with an extensive resume that includes tournament wins against top competition from around the state and region, Iwicki said the chance to bring a title back to Eastside Catholic and Sammamish stands out.
“I was glad to do that for my school and my team,” he said. “I hadn’t felt anything like that before.”
Nate Swanson lost both of his matches in the 106 pound bracket for Skyline, as did teammate Justin Manipis at 113. Issaquah junior Torre Eaton also dropped a pair of matches at 113 and Jordan Hamilton did the same at 120. Joseph DeMatteo went 1-2 for coach Gus Kiss and the Spartans at 126 and Louden Ivey lost both of his matches in the same bracket for Issaquah. Skyline junior Tristan Steciw finished the 4A tournament 1-2 after an opening round win.
Joey Gurke made it to the quarterfinals with a pair of wins on the first day, including a 10-2 decision and third round pin of Richland’s Pryce Seely. Gurke dropped his final three matches to end the tournament in sixth place at 138 pounds for Skyline.
The Spartans’ Bo Longmore lost both of his matches at 146 and was the only freshman in the bracket. Michael Mecham lost both of his matches at 160 for Skyline. Dallas Starren lost both of his matches at 182 for Issaquah.
Eastlake’s Eric Harper won his first match before being sent to the consolation bracket, where he ripped off three wins in four matches to claim fifth place for the Wolves at 190.
Matt Solusod was 1-2 at 220 and Jonathan Norris ended the tournament 2-3 for Issaquah to claim eighth place.
This story was edited to reflect the fact Eastside Catholic sophomore Matt Iwicki was the second and not the first state wrestling champion in school history. Eric Wattam took the Class 4A title at 122 pounds in 1986.
