Sandpoint High Spotlight Shines On ‘94 Champ

Sandpoint sophomore Shawn Garner and his team are aiming for the same results at tonight’s State A-1 high school wrestling championships at the Kibbie Dome.

Garner will be bidding for a second straight individual title, while the Bulldogs will be seeking a second straight team title.

A year ago, teammate Zack Vaughan extended Garner to overtime in the 103-pound final before Garner’s takedown earned him a 6-4 win.

Ironically, an all-Sandpoint finale developed in the 103-pound weight class in 1993, with Brett Lawrence stopping Trevor Walkington.

All season long, Garner (23-1) fully expected a rematch with Vaughan (18-4) for the 112-pound gold medal.

But in the semifinals, unseeded Borah sophomore Tyler Nelson (15-8) rallied to deny Vaughan, the No. 2 seed.

Nelson made up a 5-2 deficit in the closing 10 seconds of his match, but Vaughan prevailed 7-5.

On the neighboring mat, the top-seeded Garner was scoring an 8-2 decision over Justin Hugo (25-5) of Centennial.

Garner caught a glimpse of Vaughan leaving the mat and redefined his goal.

“I’m going to want (the state title) a lot more tomorrow night,” Garner said. “Now, it’s I have to have it. There’s a whole difference.

Garner will draw on Vaughan’s knowledge of Nelson.

“(Vaughan is) going to help me every way I can to stick that kid,” Garner added. “He wants that kid to lose more than anything.”

Perhaps the biggest advantage Vaughan gives Garner is a daily workout at practice.

The twosome wrestled off for the varsity spot each week. It was Vaughan who wore the Bulldogs’ black varsity uniform into state.

The pair became practice partners in the fourth grade when they joined Sandpoint coach Day Taylor’s Top Dog age division program.

“Dan Taylor told us if we stuck with his program, he’d make us champions,” Garner said. “I saw results in the first week. I’d never placed before.”

Garner planned to cheer his other teammates on in the semifinals before finding Vaughan.

“Me talking to (Vaughan) is going to be a comfort,” the 16-year-old Garner said. “It doesn’t matter - anybody can be caught. He can still come back and take third.’

Short cuts

A shorter season and a two-day state tournament are proposals Lake City coach Pat Whitcomb will push at today’s coaches meeting.

“I want to go to a two-day state tournament in terms of time out of school and expenses. Bringing kids away from home for that long, you have trouble keeping kids focused,” Whitcomb said.

Whitcomb’s proposal calls for wrestling on 12 mats and all three classifications would compete simultaneously. That would be one way to knock an extra day off the state tournament, he said.

“Washington does it. Montana does it,” Whitcomb added of the two-day state finals. “In fact, you could probably find 48 other states that do it.”

College prospects

Who’s the best wrestler at state, regardless of classification?

“The cream of the crop may be Kole Clauson,” observed North Idaho College coach John Owen.

Undefeated in 28 matches for Lakeland at 160 through the A-2 semifinals, Clauson will take his talent to the University of Wisconsin.

Owen also took not of a few heavyweight prospects, including Coeur d’Alene’s Josh Curran.

Good Seeds

Just one of the 78 top two seeds in each weight class for all three classifications failed to make it out of Thursday’s first round.

Bonners Ferry coach Conrad Garner is a dedicated A-3 seeder. The assignment started in 1982 when Garner was a North Idaho College student.

“Originally, the (Intermountain League) coaches voted me to go as an unbiased party,” Garner said. “Since then, I’ve been a permanent fixture.”

A-2 seeding is done by A-3 coaches. The A-1 coaches set up their own seeding committee this year.

Some of the North Idaho A-1 coaches were miffed by the seeding. Post Falls drew perhaps the toughest opening-round matches and it showed. The Trojans won just three of 15 matches.