After losing in the regional semifinal last weekend, Lucas Somera could have easily given up and headed into the State tournament this weekend with shaky confidence.
But for Somera, that was not an option as he resoundingly defended his state championship, pinning Deondre Sparks of Pasco after trailing 3-0 in the second period of the 138-pound State 3A championship match.
"It's indescribable," Somera said on repeating. "There are magical things that happen when you're in the Tacoma Dome."
His loss in the regional semifinal was not going to dictate the outcome at State, and his coaches made that clear. "They told me to stay confident," he said. "Your going to have ups and downs in wrestling and in life."
The Hornets got off to a tough start on Friday going 5-4 in the opening round, but in Somera's eyes he knew his team was up to the challenge.
"We knew we had to come out and wrestle lights out," Somera said. "We set our goals as high as possible at the beginning of the season to win the state tournament and we did."
Enumclaw, from the second round on in both the winners bracket and the consolation bracket, just kept on winning match after match thanks to guys like Justin Mitchell at 152 pounds and Colton Malek at 220 pounds recovering from difficult opening round losses.
This resilience pleased Coach Lee Reichert.
"Justin steps up and wins five matches in a row after losing his first - that was huge," Reichert said. "Colton came up to me and told me he wasn't done after losing in overtime in the first match."
Reichert also lauded the brilliance of his team's performance all day Saturday as they went 21-3, had two wrestlers make championship finals in Tyke Reid at 120 pounds and Somera at 138 pounds, and T.J. Cormier bounced back from a tough semifinal loss to take home third place at 195 pounds, thus securing his first state placing of his career.
"I've been doing this a long time, and I can't remember a time when we lost just two matches (actually three) on a whole Saturday," Reichert said."That's an amazing feat."
With another championship in hand, Reichert was quick to point out how important it is for the community as well as his team.
"I told the team don't take it for granted, we need to appreciate it, and celebrate it," Reichert said. "We also need to share this with the community as well.
Enumclaw Wrestlers Placing:
120 pounds: Tyke Reid, 2nd
152 pounds: Justin Mitchell, 3rd
195 pounds: T.J. Cormier, 3rd
220 pounds: Colton Malek, 3rd
220 pounds: Chris Williams, 7th
Team Scores:
1. Enumclaw 126 pts
2. Yelm 104 pts
3. Bonney Lake 85 pts
