It would be wise not to assume that Tahoma’s wrestling team is in a rebuilding year despite graduating nine seniors, including three-time state champion Nick Bayer, from a team that finished second in the state last year.

Oh, sure, those spots have been filled by freshmen and sophomores, but Tahoma coach Chris Feist said while on paper his team may look young, they certainly know what they’re doing.

“We’re very tough, we’re very experienced, but, we’re very young,” Feist said. “We have a lot of club kids. It’s an experienced group. It’s just a matter of transitioning to high school wrestling. I have a lot of faith in these young wrestlers that they’ll continue to work as hard as we expect Tahoma wrestlers to work.”

And it’s important to note the Bears have several strong juniors returning who have experience at Mat Classic, including Steven Hopkins, who beat Kentwood’s Ruben Navejas in February as a sophomore for the 103 pound state title.

“This is what we do in Maple Valley,” Feist said. “We wrestle and we play girls soccer very well. There are little kids who go to those events who say ‘I’m going to be there someday.’”

On the squad this year, Feist added, are six Cadet National Dual team members, guys who are freshmen and sophomores who wrestle year-round in both freestyle and Greco-Roman.

And those young wrestlers have already shown what they can do as Tahoma beat Kentwood 42-27 in the first South Puget Sound League North Division dual meet on Dec. 8.

Feist also points to his juniors Hopkins, Jesse Vaughan, Tanner Mjelde and Daniel Haniger as his leaders, the ones who will help his freshmen in particular get the hang of high school wrestling.

“Jesse Vaughan, his work ethic, both here and in the classroom is phenomenal,” Feist said. “He stands out as being one of my go-to guys.”

As for Mjelde, “he’s one of those guys I know I can ask him to do anything.”

For example, Feist needed Mjelde to go up two weight classes for the Kentwood contest.

“He doesn’t just go out and win, he dominates,” Feist said.

Mjelde pinned his opponent, Matthew Scott, in 3 minutes, 52 seconds.

Vaughan said that while the Bears are young, “we have lots of potential.”

“A lot of kids are really athletic,” Haniger said. “Feist is doing a good job of helping them be more technical. People thought because we lost a lot of big guys this would be a re-building year. And we know we have a big target on our backs because we haven’t lost a dual in about two years.”

Haniger also sees the youth of the team as an advantage because of the depth it provides the team.

“I feel like we’re being counted out because we lost our big stars,” Haniger said.

All agree that Tahoma can bring home a trophy from Mat Classic again this season.

“We always try to set our goals high. We want to be top three at state,” Hopkins said. “If not this year, we’ll win (state) next year as a team.”

Vaughan said the experience this year for the freshmen on the squad could be the difference for this group in two years because “there’s a big change from freshman year to sophomore year.”

“Most of (the freshmen) have been wrestling since they were little,” Mjelde said. “The biggest difference between the freshmen and us is two years of high school wrestling.”

All four have tried to be good leaders, Mjelde said, “it’s not about being verbal,” it’s about leading by example.

Hopkins said it’s important for the underclassmen to see them working hard, learning good technique from them and “doing what we want the rest of them to do.”

What they want to do is win the division in the regular season, win the league and regional tournaments just like they did last year.

First, though, Tahoma has its sights set on its next league match up on Jan. 5 with Auburn, a perennial wrestling power in the SPSL and the state.

“We just beat Kentwood last night, so, now we’re aiming at Auburn,” Haniger said. “That’s the league championship right there.”

Mjelde said, “That’s going to be a big match. We’re going to have to bring our A game.”

Feist will look to his whole team to step it up against the Trojans.

“Our dual against Auburn after we get back from winter break is going to be our biggest and most important test,” Feist said.

That will really demonstrate to the coach just what his team can do.

Just don’t underestimate Tahoma, Feist said, because wrestling is what they do in Maple Valley. Re-building isn’t a part of the vernacular for the Bears.

Reach Kris Hill at khill@maplevalleyreporter.com or 425-432-1209 ext. 5054.

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