Final Regular-Season 4A Class Individual Rankings

By The PREDICTOR

Kurt Lang

You know, as I put the finishing touches on this ranking, I think it might be helpful for everyone to know what goes into putting it all together.

I scan newspapers, the Internet, wrestling magazines, local radio and any other new outlet I can find. I hear from coaches, fans, wrestlers, and referees. I cruise the web to high school and league sites and steal statistics.

All of this information gets entered into my database, which has wrestling results back to 1953, and includes the names of thousands of wrestlers (4,385 this school year alone, or about 60% of the kids turning out). I record as many tournament results as I can (6,177 this year). I copy as many dual contest results as I can, using the speed of my computer (I estimate 40,000 or so head-to-head results this season, though they are not indexed—this is out of about 200,000 bouts that are wrestled in the high school season each year, in Washington State alone!). I enter all I can find out about each team, school and coach (About 264 schools have wrestling, that I know of).

I look into my archival database to rank the 220 tournaments I know about with a scale of 0-100. The toughest include the Tri State, Mat Classic, and Reno Tournament of Champions. At the low end I have JV tournaments (Yep, if I can find the results, they go in) and some non-sanctioned events. Much of the ranking is based upon instinct.

Finally, I sort wrestlers by weight and school classification, with the database assigning points base upon a formula including tourney toughness and placement.

After that report is issued by weight, I look at the top 20-30 wrestlers in each division, and look to all data I have on them as individuals. I juggle the rankings and add commentary, and send the finished product to folks who kindly post my material. (That’s right, to answer a question I get asked all of the time, I do not have my own website—I get published by others.)

I always reconsider my rankings when I get new information, because there are always some deserving wrestlers I’ve overlooked. And I always invite folks to give input, which will be heard. (wapredictor@hotmail.com

The tough part is, I can’t keep up with the emails (sometimes 30 per day) and the database, and I make mistakes. I am not discouraged; I just want you all to know that this is no cakewalk. I do it for the love of the oldest, greatest and purest sport in the world—and because the men and women who work their tails off on the mats deserve all of the recognition and respect we can give them. Go to a match, volunteer to help out, or if you’re already involved, please continue.

For those of you who have E-mailed me results, information, and opinions, my undying gratitude is yours. I have been so terribly busy that I haven’t had a chance to do anything but keep the database up-to-date. I apologize for not answering promptly, and I’ll try to catch up as soon as I can.

103

I haven’t had so much trouble with a whole ranking this year. The top-three were easy, but the next twelve are hard to put in order. This weekend will sort things out some more.

Rank	Name	Year	School	Prev. at State
1	Ryan Trotter	Senior	Decatur	7^th—2001
2	Cory Vombaur	?	Evergreen (Vancouver)	No Prev
3	Joel Anderson	?	Enumclaw	No Prev
4	Ko Brudvik	Senior	Edmonds-Woodway	DNP—2001, 7^th—2000
5	Reese Whitley	Sophomore	Wenatchee	No Prev
6	Travis Warrington	?	Lake Stevens	No Prev
7	Michael Matte	?	Tahoma	No Prev
8	Chad Ferrozzo	Junior	Central Valley	No Prev
9	Maurice Lopez	?	Auburn	No Prev
10	Cory Fish	?	University	No Prev
11	Jeremy Montang	Freshman	University	No Prev
12	John Hanks	Junior	Marysville-Pilchuck	DNP—2001
13	Rory Magana	?	Oak Harbor	No Prev
14	Martin Salinas	Sophomore	Pasco	No Prev
15	Jordan Faucette	?	Rogers (Puyallup)	No Prev

Honorable Mention

Daniel Guzman, Walla Walla

Austin Templeton, Central Kitsap

Nathan Sawhill, Mead

Alex Jaime, Olympic

112

Holy cats, I didn’t realize how loaded this class is until I ran the report. In the top ten, I show fourteen previous trips to the dome, seven medals, five top-three’s, and two championships. Er-uh, you figure it out, I can’t.

Rank	Name	Year	School	Prev. at State
1	Mike Rodriguez	Sophomore	Kamiakin	2^nd—2001
2	Jesse Getchell	Senior	Heritage	1^st—2001, 8^th—2000, DNP—1999
3	Matt Hadreas	Senior	Edmonds-Woodway	3^rd—2001, 7^th—2000, DNP—1999
4	Josh Williams	Senior	Kennewick	DNP—2001, 1^st—2000, DNP—1999
5	Jake Gonzalez	Sophomore	Enumclaw	DNP—2001
6	Dimitry Gaydarzhi	Senior	Curtis	DNP—2001
7	Julio Garcia	Junior	Port Angeles	DNP—2001
8	Justin Davidson	Sophomore	Bothell	No Prev
9	C.J. Brown	Senior	Stanwood	3^rd—2001
10	Tom Tran	Senior	University	No Prev
11	Jason Foster	Senior	Cascade (Everett)	DNP—2001
12	John Gonzales	Senior	Auburn	DNP—2000
13	Justin Rose	Senior	University	No Prev
14	Gilbert Bazan	Junior	Eisenhower	No Prev
15	Mike Caniparoli	?	Tahoma	No Prev

Honorable Mention

Rick Yeager, Evergreen (Vancouver)

Matt Karber, Rogers (Spokane)

Jeff Shiltz, Wilson

David Markey, Thomas Jefferson

Nathan Reese, Olympic

Kevin Lang, Oak Harbor

Mike Fisher, Battle Ground

119

Boy oh boy, another fun bracket to watch in Tacoma, if some of these guys can even get out of their regions. Absolutely inhumane is the competition at 119. Luke Kuhn is on top right now because of big wins over ranked wrestlers in big tournaments. Tony Kubec beat Ty Human in a classic Wesco matchup. Derek Kipperberg has been quietly winning away on the Kitsap Peninsula. And the others, well I could go on, but there’s no time---on to 125.

Rank	Name	Year	School	Prev. at State
1	Luke Kuhn	Senior	Gonzaga Prep	DNP—2001
2	Tony Kubec	Sophomore	Cascade (Everett)	DNP—2001
3	Derek Kipperberg	Senior	South Kitsap	4^th—2001
4	Ty Human	Junior	Lake Stevens	5^th—2001, 2^nd—2000
5	Tyler Sherfey	Sophomore	Kamiakin	3^rd—2001
6	Jesse Lang	Junior	Richland	5^th—2001
7	Jon Maryanski	?	Tahoma	No Prev
8	Dan Johnson	Senior	University	No Prev
9	Ryan Wheeler	Junior	Olympic	No Prev
10	Nate Hawley	?	Mead	No Prev
11	Brett Wagner	Junior	Rogers (Puyallup)	5^th—2001
12	P.J. Gemin	Senior	Inglemoor	DNP—2001, DNP—2000
13	Jon Garcia	Senior	Oak Harbor	DNP—2001
14	Cory Getchell	?	Heritage	No Prev
15	Tonio Thacker	Junior	Auburn Riverside	8^th—2001

Honorable Mention

Jeff McClellan, Curtis

Matt Curry, Mount Vernon

Janya Lyuban,, Heritage

Chris Ross, Mountain View

Haven Hash, Prairie

Jamie Schrader, Foss

125

The question everywhere is, “What weight is Barnes going to go?” I know a lot of wrestlers’ post-season hopes ride on the answer, so I’ll weigh in with my guess, which has no insider information at all. I reckon he’ll step onto the scales at 125#, to free up the possibility for teammate Eric Curnett to win at 130#. Every point will count hugely in the team scores, and I think Coach Barnes will maximize his potential. That being said, the next question is, “Can anyone beat Burke?” Briefly, yes. Remember Gable, Karelin, Owen, McGettrick? Will anyone beat Burke? Well, that’s why they wrestle--to find out. Enjoy!

Rank	Name	Year	School	Prev. at State
1	Burke Barnes	Senior	Lake Stevens	1^st—2001, 1^st—2000, 1^st—1999
2	Mike Roggenkamp	Senior	Enumclaw	DNP—2001, DNP—2000
3	Mickey Elliott	Junior	Spanaway Lake	3^rd—2001
4	Ryan Montang	Senior