Photos
Quietly sitting off to the side was Riley Prentice. Although he harbored those same aspirations, he was just as likely to be reading a book while the twins roughed up each other.
“He’s unassuming,” said Riley’s father, Tony, who also serves as the Thunderbirds’ head wrestling coach, “but when he’s on the field or the mat, it’s a different story.”
In horse racing, it’s known as push-button – when it’s time to move, it’s time to move at full speed. And that’s how Riley Prentice operates.
It was that way on the football field, where Prentice helped Tumwater win the Class 2A state championship as a junior and earned first-team all-Evergreen Conference honors as a linebacker this year as a senior.
It’s also that way for him in wrestling.
Last year, Prentice capped his remarkable 38-2 record by winning the 160-pound state championship. One of those victories came in the state semifinals, when he beat defending champion Amando Deleon of Othello, 1-0.
Earlier in the year, Prentice had handed Mariner senior Alex Coffman, the eventual 4A state champion, his only loss of the season.
“I’ve just always been able to cut everything else around me out when I compete,” Prentice said. “It hasn’t really been that tough to do. I’m just able to focus.”
Never was that more needed than in last year’s state finals, where Prentice needed three overtimes to put away Deer Park’s Dylan Miller, 2-1.
Because of that victory, Prentice is in position to become just the second wrestler in school history to win multiple state wrestling championships, trying to join Randy Woolen, who captured back-to-back 108-pound state crowns in 1975 and 1976 before going on to win the 129-pound classification in 1977.
“It was incredible winning it last year, but I think it places a lot of pressure on you coming back as a senior,” said Prentice. “You just have to work harder.”
Prentice is no stranger to hard work.
Currently, he is wrestling at 170 pounds, but he plans to be back in the 160-pound division after the new year.
“It takes time getting back into wrestling shape after playing football,” said Prentice. “I’m just trying to get as much mat time as possible to get back to where I was at the end of last year.”
Prentice plans an aggressive schedule to get into that shape. In addition to EvCo dual meets during the weekdays, he will participate in a tournament every weekend, except for one, before the start of the postseason tournament.
And like last season, he is seeking out the state’s best.
“We want to go to tournaments where we think guys can beat us,” said Prentice, who suffered an early season loss last year to 1A state champion Chris Castillo of Zillah.
“It’s going to make you better.”
Competition will also be found in his own house. Over the upcoming holiday break, his older brother Patrick, who won the 160-pound state 2A title for Tumwater in 2008, will be back home from Central Washington University.
“Patrick is an explosive, powerful wrestler,” said father Tony, himself a 1987 Tumwater graduate. “Riley’s a grinder. He’s focused and calculating. They are about as different as you can be on the mat.”
College looms in Riley’s future, although he’s likely to look out of state because of the limited wrestling opportunities on the next level.
Patrick wrestled two years at Northern Colorado before transferring to Central Washington. Close friend Easton Hargrave, a 2010 Tumwater graduate who won the 189-pound state title last year, currently wrestles at Highlands University, an NCAA Division II school in New Mexico.
“I’m just trying to get my name out there to colleges and see where a good fit for me would be,” Prentice said. “I want to wrestle in college, but I have other goals right now I need to focus on.”
BOYS TO WATCH
Dean Reginio, 106, sr., Timberline
Josh Beam, 132, jr., Timberline
Dillon Harris, 138, sr., Yelm
David Griffith, 138, sr., Capital
James Bradley, 145, sr., Yelm
Andrew White, 145, sr., W.F. West
Riley Prentice, 170, sr., Tumwater
Garrett Pannkuk, 220, sr., Centralia
Caleb Richards, 220, sr., North Thurston
Stone Hart, 220, jr., Timberline
OUTLOOK
The 2A Evergreen Conference will once again be very competitive with Centralia, W.F. West and Tumwater having a wealth of returning wrestlers. Centralia won the 16-team Timberline Invitational earlier this month and has more than 60 wrestlers on its team following one of the school’s most successful seasons last year. The Tigers went unbeaten in league play, then captured the regional title and finished as Class 2A runners-up to Deer Park at Mat Classic. … Tumwater likely will challenge the Tigers with Prentice, last season’s 2A champion at 160, and the Nolan brothers – James and Cameron – leading the way. The Nolans faced off for fifth place at 119 last season. … Richards leads North Thurston and is ranked second at 220 by washingtonwrestlingreport.com after placing seventh at Mat Classic last year. … Black Hills lost both of its 2011 state participants to graduation but returns junior Logan Gillihan (120), a state alternate last season. … River Ridge wrestlers went a combined 118-248 last season, so a rebuilding season is in store for the Hawks. … Could it be another Enumclaw-Yelm showdown for the 3A state team title? The Tornados are deep enough to make another run, led by four wrestlers – Harris (138), Bradley (145), Anthony Allred (170), and Jeren Hufford (132) – who have placed in the top five at the state championships. Harris and Bradley are multiple-time state placers – with Bradley twice finishing as a runner-up. … Timberline has four Mat Classic qualifiers back from last year’s team – Reginio (106), Beam (132), Tyler Saichompoo (182) and Hart (220), plus transfer Nick Morf (138), who qualified for the Alaska state tournament last season. … Ten ninth-graders are out for Capital, which did not have a state representative last season. Griffith, a 2010 Mat Classic entrant at 125, is the Cougars’ best bet to end that streak. … Tenino should be strong in the lower weights, with Tyler Langford (145) leading the way. … Defending Southwest Washington Evergreen Division champion Elma should be a real factor at 1A. Eleven of its 14 varsity wrestlers return this season. … Rainier’s turnout numbers are small, but junior Bryton Mede (132) is a two-time state participant.
GIRLS TO WATCH
Isabella Silva, 106, jr., Centralia
Charlene Carrell, 137, jr., Elma
Morgan Michels, 155, sr., Yelm
Tonie Edwards, 170, so., Yelm
Chandra Ragsac, 170, sr., Capital
OUTLOOK
With 26 wrestlers, Yelm is the largest team in South Sound and has placed in the top 10 in the team standings at Mat Classic the past two years. Michels, who started wrestling as a freshman at 210 pounds, is now wrestling at 155. She’s placed at state the past two years at 171 (sixth) and 160 (eighth). … Centralia will have a girls team this season for the first time and has 13 wrestlers out. Silva placed fourth last season at 103. … Elma has three wrestlers currently ranked in the top 10 of their respective weight classes — Carrell (137), Julia Arnold (145) and Hannah Strickland (170).
Meg Wochnick, staff writer
