Patriots’ wrestlers leave state battered, but better
February 19, 2013
Her face was caked in sweat, her shoulders had mat burns and her nostrils were leaking red. And yet, Joanna Moreira could not stop smiling.
The Liberty High School wrestler had just defeated Angelica Vaschenko, from Franklin Pierce High School, in the second round of consolation at the state tourney in Tacoma. The win, a 12-8 tussle of wills, assured that the 137-pound Patriot from São Paulo, Brazil, would finish better at state than in 2012.
“This is a big accomplishment,” she said. “I wanted to be better than I was last year.”
Joanna Moreira, Liberty High School sophomore, complete with nosebleed, is declared the 10-5 winner over Centralia’s Jenna Gillaspie in her first-round, 137-pound bout during the state 3A wrestling championships Feb. 15 at the Tacoma Dome.
By Greg Farrar
In 2012, a freshman Moreira had lost in the second round of consolation. This year, she finished eighth. A week earlier, she had finished third at regionals in Sedro-Woolley, improving her 2012 performance by one spot.
Skyline Spartans crowned wrestling champs
February 5, 2013
Not only are the Skyline High School Spartans the KingCo 4A champions but seven of their wrestlers are individual district champions as well.
At the KingCo 4A Championships Feb. 2, the Spartans won with 229 team points. Issaquah came in second with 209 points.
“Having eight in the finals and seven champs was something certainly very, very special,” Skyline coach Gus Kiss said.
Local high school wrestling / Jan. 15-17, 2013
January 23, 2013
Illness decimates Liberty High School wrestlers
January 22, 2013
Connor Small (top), Liberty High School sophomore, controls Hazen junior Malik Haythorne during their 152-pound match Jan. 15, taking an 8-1 victory. Small would also win his match Jan. 17 against Bellevue by a technical fall. By Greg Farrar
As the nation struggles through a particularly aggressive flu season, many Liberty High School wrestlers know only too well the ailments that accompany the illness.
The flu knocked out nearly the entire team last week, when the Patriots dropped matches to Hazen and Bellevue, Liberty coach Manny Brown said.
“With injuries and sickness, I think I had maybe six wrestlers that are at full strength,” he said. “But the other teams have illnesses too.”
Despite going into the matches with a short-handed squad, Brown said the remaining Patriot wrestlers stood tough through adversity.
Liberty High School’s first female wrestler defies odds
January 1, 2013
Joanna Moreira, Liberty High School sophomore (right), wrestles her opponent at the Auburn Mountainview Girls Tour in December. By Laurel Bluhm
Just a day before competing in last year’s Mat Classic, Liberty High School wrestler Joanna Moreira stood high up in the rafters of the Tacoma Dome and stared down at the 12 perfectly placed mats laid across the floor.
Liberty High School wrestlers adjust to home away from home
November 27, 2012
Joanna Moreira, Liberty High School freshman (top) wrestles Garfield junior Amanda Triandafilou in the 132-pound women’s match in an exhibition match last January at Issaquah High School. By Greg Farrar
The uniform will say Liberty, but for the 2012-2013 wrestling season, the Patriot wrestlers will have to call Maywood Middle School home due to construction going on at Liberty High School.
It’s been an adjustment for the squad, Liberty coach Manny Brown said. The team practices at Maywood but must wait to use the wrestling mats until the middle school team is done.
“Since Liberty is in construction mode, we will have all of our home matches over at Maywood Middle School,” he said. “It’s worked out well for us, but we still miss being home at Liberty High School.”
Despite the inconvenience, Brown said the team is excited and eager to build upon its fourth-place finish at last year’s KingCo 3A Conference championships.
Retiring Sports Editor Bob Taylor shares milestones from a long career on the sidelines
March 6, 2012
Kasen Williams, then-Skyline High School senior, makes his winning triple-jump leap of 45 feet, 5 1/2 inches, during the KingCo track and field championships May 13, 2011, at Juanita High School. File
I kind of know how Bill Gates must have felt when he made his first million. When I joined The Issaquah Press news staff May 22, 2000, I struck it rich, too!
Five days after being hired at The Press I covered my first Issaquah School District state championship team. Actually, it was inevitable that an Issaquah team would win when Issaquah and Skyline met for the 3A state baseball title in Tacoma’s Cheney Stadium. Issaquah won 5-3.
Liberty wrestler Hamilton Noel finishes sixth at Mat Classic
February 21, 2012
When the last chapter closed on the 2012 Mat Classic, all it said about Hamilton Noel’s performance was that the Liberty High School senior finished sixth in the 160-pound division at the Class 3A Tournament.
Not a word about his heart, of which he displayed plenty in the Tacoma Dome. Not a comma about his tears, of which there were also a few. Not a period about how he stepped on the mat weakened by an unspecified ailment that made him look almost nothing like the Noel that dominated at Regionals.
At the end, the fact that Mercer Island’s Blake Johnson, the wrestler who won 160-pound state title was the same Noel defeated at the regional finals seven days earlier, seemed to do nothing but add insult to an already injured warrior.
Liberty’s Hamilton Noel wins regional crown
February 14, 2012
Hamilton Noel (right), Liberty High School senior, holds Mercer Island's Blake Johnson during their 3A Region 1 160-pound title match. Noel won an exciting 3-2 contest. By Sebastian Moraga
Hamilton Noel said he knows what is at stake.
The Liberty High School senior qualified for the state wrestling tournament again by winning the Class 3A Region 1 160-pound title Feb. 11 at Skyline High School.
On Feb. 17 and 18 in the Tacoma Dome, Noel will go for his third, and last, shot at a state crown. He will graduate in June and said he knows time is running out.
In 2010, then-145-pounder Noel lost to Olympic High School’s Brandon Yeik, 13-7, in the state finals.
In 2011, 152-pounder Noel lost to Enumclaw’s Josh Musick, 6-2, in the state finals.
Now at 160, he punched his ticket for the Mat Classic by beating No.2 Mercer Island’s Blake Johnson, in a 3-2 thriller.
“Blake is ranked No. 2,” Noel said. “I’ll probably see him again this year.”
Eagles achieve goal of winning wrestling KingCo Conference 4A tournament title
February 7, 2012
Issaquah High School wrestlers, coaches and team managers howl as they pose for photos after winning the KingCo 4A Tournament team championship Feb. 4. Winning this title with these athletes during wrestling’s 50th anniversary at Issaquah ‘is something I’ll always remember,’ said coach Kirk Hyatt (kneeling second from left).By Greg Farrar
Issaquah High School wrestling coach Kirk Hyatt had a hunch entering this season that his team had championship talent.
