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FALCON WRESTLING NOTES - MARCH 2010
They were bold words spoken by Caleb Gifford back in December.
"Coming into the season," the Hanford senior said as the wrestling season was getting under way, "I was expecting to be a state champion this year."
It wasn't easy backing up that statement, and it certainly wasn't an easy road through the postseason for Gifford -- though at times he made it look so. But in the end, he lived up to those expectations, winning the 135-pound title in the 3A state bracket at Mat Classic XXII.
"That was something," Hanford coach Dominic Duncan said. "Caleb made no bones about it. He was there to win a state championship."
And now he can add the title of the Herald's All-Area Wrestler of the Year.
"It was what I dreamed of," Gifford said of winning a state title, "and (the dream has) been with me quite a few years."
He heads a list of All-Area wrestlers that includes a pair of two-time champions and one three-timer. Warden's Rick Bowers was selected Coach of the Year, having led the Cougars to third place in the 1A standings and being inducted into the Washington State Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame last fall.
Gifford was one of 16 area wrestlers to win a state title this season and had a 31-8 record -- a bit pedestrian by championship standards. But he wound up beating the wrestlers who placed second through fifth in his weight during the postseason. His regional title came against wrestlers who would go on to finish second and third at state.
"Wrestling those guys really made a difference come state time," he said. "Looking back at it, state was a little easier than I thought."
Though not without some drama.
After advancing to the finals with a 44-second pin, an easy 6-2 win over the fourth-place finisher and a third-period pin against the fifth-place wrestler, Gifford ran into East Valley's Sean Biltoft.
Biltoft -- who beat Gifford 11-7 in the district final -- got two first-period takedowns and led 4-2 to start the second. And that's when Biltoft made his one and only mistake of the match -- choosing to start the period down, and giving Gifford the top.
"(Caleb) has always been a very tough rider," Duncan said. "He's always been able to control guys when he's on top."
"I was really happy he chose down," Gifford said. "I felt that I could really beat down guys (from) on top. I put some pain on them and wear them out, and then in the third round make it happen."
It didn't take that long.
Gifford slipped a half-nelson around Biltoft and got him turned, ending the match midway through the period.
"Coming up with that pin, it was kind of a crazy moment," he said. "I didn't know what to feel."
Whatever it was, it felt a lot better than the sudden case of nerves that took over before the match.
"I just went blank," he said. "Just being down there with so much going through my head.
"I always watched the finals from up in the stands. This year being down matside was a whole different experience. You're really nervous --all those eyes look. No, I don't think I've ever had that many people watch me wrestle."
Still, he found more than enough motivation knowing that in all likelihood he was about to wrestle his last match ever.
"All I was thinking about was all my past work toward this match, and I have to make it happen," he said. "This is going to be the final match of my wrestling career, so I've got to go out and really put on a show."
FALCON WRESTLING NOTES - DECEMBER 2009
For the better part of the last two years, Mike Ruane and Caleb Gifford have been murder on each other in the Hanford wrestling room.
Sharing a considerable talent in their beloved sport -- and being on top of each other when it comes to weight class -- Ruane and Gifford almost always faced each other when coaches paired off wrestlers in practice.
Ruane, the lifer from Richland, and Gifford, a Benton City transfer, became fast friends as sophomores in 2007 as their stars rose in the Tri-City wrestling scene.
Both qualified for state in '07, and both went back to Tacoma last year as juniors fully expecting to bring home some hardware.
But when an old nemesis intruded on Ruane's Mat Classic trip, it sent the two down vastly different roads in their wrestling careers.
"I imagined myself doing it a lot longer," Ruane said. "I was planning on going on to college, even if it was a two-year school. "Wrestling is the sport I fell for."
It was taken away from him when he suffered a concussion in his final match last season. It was his fourth head trauma in less than 18 months, having gone through three concussions during his sophomore season in football that took that sport away. But this one was the worst, with effects lasting well into the spring, making it impossible for him to get medical clearance to ever wrestle again.
"At first I was pretty depressed," said Ruane, who had his baseball season erased by the injury as well. "I lost contact with a lot of friends."
While Ruane's wrestling world was crashing down, his friend was reaching new heights.
Gifford finished fifth in the 135 bracket, accomplishing something all wrestlers relish: winning his last match of the season.
Coming off a summer of hard work that has maintained his weight, he has ultimate expectations for his senior season.
"I'm expecting to be state champ," he said matter-of-factly. "Last year there were pretty much seniors in my weight, and they all graduated. There's me and Tyler King (of Auburn, who finished third) from last year."
"It's well within his ability," Hanford coach Dominic Duncan said of Gifford's lofty goal. "He put in the time, put in the work that's required to get there. It's just a matter of coming out and wrestling well."
It's been a strong start for Gifford, who already has a big win wrestling up two weights against Walla Walla state veteran Ryan Harmon. His only loss so far came in the championship of the Bob Mars Tournament, 5-2 to Quincy's Manny Ybarra, a 2A wrestler considered one of the top 135-pounders in the state among all classes.
In fact, the biggest setback so far for Gifford came over the summer, when he found out his friend and wrestling-room partner was off the mats for good.
"It was a bummer, because we were really looking forward to having a strong senior year," Gifford said.
Duncan added that Ruane also had the potential to wrestle for a state title.
"He was a kid we thought could get back to state and get in the top three, possibly get into the state finals," Duncan said. "He had expectations of coming back his senior year and being a state champion."
That is out of the picture, but Ruane hasn't reached the end of the line with wrestling. Take a look at the Hanford coaching staff, and you'll notice someone who doesn't look too long out of high school -- because he isn't.
Ruane came back this season as a volunteer assistant coach.
"He basically came to us and said, 'I know I can't wrestle, but I still want to be part of the team, and is there anything I can do to help out,' " Duncan said. "It's worked out really well. Obviously the skill set is there, and he's been through our program the last two years, so he knows our philosophy and what we're trying to teach."
Duncan added that Ruane is a great conduit for relaying information to younger wrestlers: "The freshmen and sophomores have watched him wrestle. They know it's not coming from someone who was 1-30 in his career. They know it's coming from a two-time state vet."
By no means is it easy for Ruane to be around his favorite sport and not be able to get out on the mat.
"Some matches are hard for me to watch," he said. "But as soon as I found out I couldn't wrestle, I wanted to stay connected to the program. I worked so hard for three years, I wanted to be a part of it my senior year."
Besides, he's found a certain satisfaction from watching the kids he works with develop as wrestlers -- "It's very empowering" -- and hopes coaching is in his future.
And Ruane still hasn't stopped helping his friend get better.
"I know he has the potential to win state, and I want to do everything I can to get him there," he said of Gifford.
And that includes cracking the coaching whip from time to time.
"He's definitely bossing me around," Gifford said with a chuckle. "He cares how well I do this season. He feels like my season is his season as well, and he's pushing me, making the best of what we have left."
After all, that's what friends do -- on and off the mat.
FALCON WRESTLING NOTES - MARCH 2010
They were bold words spoken by Caleb Gifford back in December.
"Coming into the season," the Hanford senior said as the wrestling season was getting under way, "I was expecting to be a state champion this year."
It wasn't easy backing up that statement, and it certainly wasn't an easy road through the postseason for Gifford -- though at times he made it look so. But in the end, he lived up to those expectations, winning the 135-pound title in the 3A state bracket at Mat Classic XXII.
"That was something," Hanford coach Dominic Duncan said. "Caleb made no bones about it. He was there to win a state championship."
And now he can add the title of the Herald's All-Area Wrestler of the Year.
"It was what I dreamed of," Gifford said of winning a state title, "and (the dream has) been with me quite a few years."
He heads a list of All-Area wrestlers that includes a pair of two-time champions and one three-timer. Warden's Rick Bowers was selected Coach of the Year, having led the Cougars to third place in the 1A standings and being inducted into the Washington State Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame last fall.
Gifford was one of 16 area wrestlers to win a state title this season and had a 31-8 record -- a bit pedestrian by championship standards. But he wound up beating the wrestlers who placed second through fifth in his weight during the postseason. His regional title came against wrestlers who would go on to finish second and third at state.
"Wrestling those guys really made a difference come state time," he said. "Looking back at it, state was a little easier than I thought."
Though not without some drama.
After advancing to the finals with a 44-second pin, an easy 6-2 win over the fourth-place finisher and a third-period pin against the fifth-place wrestler, Gifford ran into East Valley's Sean Biltoft.
Biltoft -- who beat Gifford 11-7 in the district final -- got two first-period takedowns and led 4-2 to start the second. And that's when Biltoft made his one and only mistake of the match -- choosing to start the period down, and giving Gifford the top.
"(Caleb) has always been a very tough rider," Duncan said. "He's always been able to control guys when he's on top."
"I was really happy he chose down," Gifford said. "I felt that I could really beat down guys (from) on top. I put some pain on them and wear them out, and then in the third round make it happen."
It didn't take that long.
Gifford slipped a half-nelson around Biltoft and got him turned, ending the match midway through the period.
"Coming up with that pin, it was kind of a crazy moment," he said. "I didn't know what to feel."
Whatever it was, it felt a lot better than the sudden case of nerves that took over before the match.
"I just went blank," he said. "Just being down there with so much going through my head.
"I always watched the finals from up in the stands. This year being down matside was a whole different experience. You're really nervous --all those eyes look. No, I don't think I've ever had that many people watch me wrestle."
Still, he found more than enough motivation knowing that in all likelihood he was about to wrestle his last match ever.
"All I was thinking about was all my past work toward this match, and I have to make it happen," he said. "This is going to be the final match of my wrestling career, so I've got to go out and really put on a show."
FALCON WRESTLING NOTES - DECEMBER 2009
For the better part of the last two years, Mike Ruane and Caleb Gifford have been murder on each other in the Hanford wrestling room.
Sharing a considerable talent in their beloved sport -- and being on top of each other when it comes to weight class -- Ruane and Gifford almost always faced each other when coaches paired off wrestlers in practice.
Ruane, the lifer from Richland, and Gifford, a Benton City transfer, became fast friends as sophomores in 2007 as their stars rose in the Tri-City wrestling scene.
Both qualified for state in '07, and both went back to Tacoma last year as juniors fully expecting to bring home some hardware.
But when an old nemesis intruded on Ruane's Mat Classic trip, it sent the two down vastly different roads in their wrestling careers.
"I imagined myself doing it a lot longer," Ruane said. "I was planning on going on to college, even if it was a two-year school. "Wrestling is the sport I fell for."
It was taken away from him when he suffered a concussion in his final match last season. It was his fourth head trauma in less than 18 months, having gone through three concussions during his sophomore season in football that took that sport away. But this one was the worst, with effects lasting well into the spring, making it impossible for him to get medical clearance to ever wrestle again.
"At first I was pretty depressed," said Ruane, who had his baseball season erased by the injury as well. "I lost contact with a lot of friends."
While Ruane's wrestling world was crashing down, his friend was reaching new heights.
Gifford finished fifth in the 135 bracket, accomplishing something all wrestlers relish: winning his last match of the season.
Coming off a summer of hard work that has maintained his weight, he has ultimate expectations for his senior season.
"I'm expecting to be state champ," he said matter-of-factly. "Last year there were pretty much seniors in my weight, and they all graduated. There's me and Tyler King (of Auburn, who finished third) from last year."
"It's well within his ability," Hanford coach Dominic Duncan said of Gifford's lofty goal. "He put in the time, put in the work that's required to get there. It's just a matter of coming out and wrestling well."
It's been a strong start for Gifford, who already has a big win wrestling up two weights against Walla Walla state veteran Ryan Harmon. His only loss so far came in the championship of the Bob Mars Tournament, 5-2 to Quincy's Manny Ybarra, a 2A wrestler considered one of the top 135-pounders in the state among all classes.
In fact, the biggest setback so far for Gifford came over the summer, when he found out his friend and wrestling-room partner was off the mats for good.
"It was a bummer, because we were really looking forward to having a strong senior year," Gifford said.
Duncan added that Ruane also had the potential to wrestle for a state title.
"He was a kid we thought could get back to state and get in the top three, possibly get into the state finals," Duncan said. "He had expectations of coming back his senior year and being a state champion."
That is out of the picture, but Ruane hasn't reached the end of the line with wrestling. Take a look at the Hanford coaching staff, and you'll notice someone who doesn't look too long out of high school -- because he isn't.
Ruane came back this season as a volunteer assistant coach.
"He basically came to us and said, 'I know I can't wrestle, but I still want to be part of the team, and is there anything I can do to help out,' " Duncan said. "It's worked out really well. Obviously the skill set is there, and he's been through our program the last two years, so he knows our philosophy and what we're trying to teach."
Duncan added that Ruane is a great conduit for relaying information to younger wrestlers: "The freshmen and sophomores have watched him wrestle. They know it's not coming from someone who was 1-30 in his career. They know it's coming from a two-time state vet."
By no means is it easy for Ruane to be around his favorite sport and not be able to get out on the mat.
"Some matches are hard for me to watch," he said. "But as soon as I found out I couldn't wrestle, I wanted to stay connected to the program. I worked so hard for three years, I wanted to be a part of it my senior year."
Besides, he's found a certain satisfaction from watching the kids he works with develop as wrestlers -- "It's very empowering" -- and hopes coaching is in his future.
And Ruane still hasn't stopped helping his friend get better.
"I know he has the potential to win state, and I want to do everything I can to get him there," he said of Gifford.
And that includes cracking the coaching whip from time to time.
"He's definitely bossing me around," Gifford said with a chuckle. "He cares how well I do this season. He feels like my season is his season as well, and he's pushing me, making the best of what we have left."
After all, that's what friends do -- on and off the mat.