Effort is what Matters on State mat
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February 26, 2014
AT STATE – La Conner’s Ben Harper, right, fends off Jacob McMillan of Liberty Bell in the first round of competition in the 145-pound weight classification at the State level wrestling tournament held Friday at the Tacoma Dome. Harper faced McMillan a second time on Saturday in the battle for 3rd and 4th; McMillan took 3rd and Harper came in 4th. The Braves had four other athletes qualify for state: senior Sid Lease, junior Francis Ziemantz, sophomore Josh Summers and sophomore Riley Morgan. – Photo by Amylynn Richards
Ben Harper took Mat-ters into his own hands at last weekend’s State Wrestling trials in Tacoma.
Harper, a La Conner High senior and son of Braves’ head wrestling coach Barry Harper, capped a strong season by splitting four Mat Classic XXVI matches at the Tacoma Dome while placing fourth overall in the Boys’ 2B 145-pound weight class.
Harper rebounded from an opening round loss Friday to win two straight pairings en route to La Conner High’s best showing in the 2014 State Finals.
The La Conner grappler tied for the second highest finish at Tacoma among all Skagit County entrants in the two-day event.
He was also a steadying influence upon a relatively young La Conner High squad, leading by example throughout a campaign that surpassed expectations in many ways.
Five La Conner wrestlers qualified for the Mat Classic in what had been billed going in as a rebuilding year.
Harper was joined at Tacoma by classmate Sid Lease and sophomores Josh Summers and Riley Morgan on the boys’ side of the State Meet, and by Frances Ziemantz, who represented the Lady Braves.
Another Lady Brave, Amber Drye, likely would have reached Tacoma had she not been sidelined by injury.
Lease, coming off a stellar football season for La Conner High, competed in the 182-pound division at Tacoma.
Summers, a relentless competitor, who won several come-from-behind matches this year, was part of the 138-pound field in Tacoma.
Morgan was La Conner’s entry in the tough 152-pound class.
Ziemantz won one of three matches in the girls’ 190 bracket.
Just reaching the Tacoma venue, one of the top events of its kind in the nation, is a victory in itself — something not easily within the grasp of even the most seasoned of wrestlers.
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