Medical Lake wrestling program building, one athlete at a time

From a team and league standpoint Medical Lake’s progress on the wrestling mat may be seen as quite slow under second-year head coach Josh Edmondson.

The Cardinals finished 1-5 in the Northeast A League in the just completed season and 1-4 in Edmondson’s first campaign in 2015-16.

But the former Cardinal standout and collegiate national champion sees things in a different light.

“I’m very pleased, I’ve been asked this a couple of times (on) how I feel about the season,” Edmondson said. “Everybody knows I strive for the best, I strive for championships, but I want more than that,” he added.

But the real goal is for the individual competitors to have a good experience.

“I’ve tried to hit that home but it’s very hard for a coach, any coach, to say all this work’s going to pay off,” Edmondson said.

That’s a hard sell when, as a team, they have to give up forfeits during the dual season, maybe losing to another school because there were no wrestlers at 220 pounds or bigger.

“I put them through the wringer and then we come up short because of us missing our upper weights,” Edmondson said. One of those outings was a 34-33 loss to Lakeside where a Cardinals’ furious rally from a 12-0 deficit fell just short.

In the end, when it’s time for an individual to perform and stand out, that’s when it is easier for Edmondson to say, “Hey, this is where that work we’re talking about comes forward.”

Medical Lake had some individuals who stepped out of the shadows, and up in competition with solid efforts at regionals, “And surprised themselves this year,” Edmondson said. He spoke, for instance of Brandon Giles, a freshman.

“I’m just really happy for those guys who made it through,” Edmondson said.

And there were those who rose to a higher level in the state tournament in Tacoma. Those included Braden Wirth and Weston Thomas. Thomas finished eighth at 113-pounds and Wirth finished with a 1-2 win/loss mark and did not place. Sam Griffey went to the event as an alternate.

“Weston is a sophomore, it’s his second time qualifying for the state tournament,” Edmondson said. “And then placing this year, that’s huge; he’s got two more years.”

Wirth, a senior, competed for the final time, however.

Thomas is a leader on the team and, “That says a lot for freshmen coming in and a lot for our guys who are going to be sophomores next year,” Edmondson said.

Filling the upper weights will continue to be a challenge for Edmondson, but he’s pulling out all the stops.

“One thing I have been doing, but I think it’s going to be a little more successful this year, is getting into those football players’ heads and say, ‘You need to do something during the winter season and you’re not built for basketball,’ just give them that kind of speech,” Edmondson said.

He will try to instill in them that they need to be doing something to be a better football player.

And, Edmondson said, there are freshmen coming in that might just fill those upper weights.

“There are a couple of eighth-graders who were wrestling heavyweight and are coming in to take heavyweight spots for us,” Edmondson said, adding they have a championship and a runner-up amongst their credentials.

Sophomore Izaiah Schlosser, wrestled in the upper weights between 195 and 220. “Who knows what (weight) he’ll be?” Edmondson said.

Offseason work will again include freestyle wrestling where Edmondson and Medical Lake Middle School head coach and Cards assistant, Matt Leenhouts, share duties.

“It’s almost a different sport, but it’s still wrestling,” Edmondson explained.

The school also treats it differently with no “dead season,” regulations that govern other sports where coaches are not allowed to be around the kids.

“What it does is keep the kids on the wrestling mat that aren’t doing a spring sport,” Edmondson said.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.