Snodgrass, Edwards take home Rubber Chickens

Last Saturday, the Wahkiakum Mule wrestling team traveled to their last regular season tournament of the year, the Rubber Chicken at Kalama. The Chicken had doubled in size this year to a 16 man tournament with such power house schools as Kelso JV, Union, LaCenter and Wahkiakum in attendance.

As the day progressed the level of competition became obvious. As Mule Assistant Coach Keith Burns said, “This is the level of competition that prepares wrestlers for state.”

Dylan Hansen, wrestling at heavyweight, made the finals with a pin over a Castle Rock wrestler. This was Hansen’s second finals appearance this year, and his first try for a Chicken. Hansen was forced to settle for second; he will be seeded first or second in sub-regionals.

The other Mule in the finals was senior Blayne Edwards at 113. Edwards has returned to his championship form and was able to come home with his second Rubber Chicken. He is seeded number 1 in the subs.

At 126 the Mules entered two wrestlers, sophomore Mason Mackey and freshman Alex Johnson. Mackey ended with a commanding third, only losing one match of the day. Johnson settled for a fifth place, being too low on his season match count to wrestle his final match. They are rated 1 and 3 respectively in the sub-region.

Sophomore Nate Cothren wrestled at the tough 145 weight class. He met the tournament champion, Lucus Eastman, in the semi-finals. Cothren’s match against Eastman was closer than Eastman’s finals match. Cothren will be seeded 1 or 2 in the sub-region.

Arial Snodgrass entered in a ladies bracket and won the championship. The girls state tournament is not divided down by school size, so she will still need to finalize her placing for the sub-regions where she will be facing schools like Hoquiam and Kelso.

Other Mule wrestlers who should be seeded in sub-regionals include Ben Vasion, second at 182; Bubba Calvert, third at 170; Adam Vasion, third at 145; Jesús Crawford, third at 120; Brandon Burdick, second at 138; Luke Stacey, second at 120; Kody Vik, fourth at 132, and Trystan Mendez, fourth at 152. Seeding for the men will be finalized after last night's (Wednesday) last league mix-n-match at North Beach.

The Mule wrestling community would also like to invite everyone to watch the Mighty Mini-Mules home mix-n-match for youth wrestlers tonight (Thursday) at 6 p.m. at the Wahkiakum High School Gym.