Cedarcrest takes down Lakewood grapplers

LAKEWOOD — With glimpses of putting it all together, ultimately Lakewood’s inexperience trumped its potential.

The Cougars lost 57-21 to Cascade Conference opponent Cedarcrest Dec. 7.

“We’re not doing what we’re doing in practice,” said Cougars coach Tom O’Hara. “We’re better than we looked tonight. This match could have been a lot closer.”

In just the second dual of the season for Lakewood, the match started at the 160-pound weight class and less than five minutes later, the Red Wolves owned an 18-0 lead after three pins.

The Cougars got their first points from 215-pound senior Travis Givler.

“Givler did a great job of going after his man,” O’Hara said.

The senior outlasted opponent Tommy Eadie with five points in the final period to get a 10-8 victory. But it didn’t come without drama, as Givler was in a compromising position when time expired.

“That’s Givler. He’s going to give you all he’s got and sometimes you get caught,” O’Hara said.

Heavyweight Alex Wilson won on a forfeit, making the score 18-9. But the Red Wolves responded with 12 more points before sophomore Steven Speer scored a pin in 1:47 with the 119-pound match score tied at 4-4.

“Steven was quick and looked really good there,” O’Hara said.

From there, the Cougars scored just once more, on another quick pin in the 140-pound match between junior Josh Linscott and Joey Best.

In his first match of the season, Linscott came out in a fury, pinning his opponent in 50 seconds.

O’Hara said that two of the best performances came out of losses by Keely Caldwell in the 130-pound match, and Waylon Gwyther at 135.

“Keely might have had a better match than anybody tonight,” said O’Hara about her 15-0 technical fall. “She wrestled a strong guy that knew how to keep her from scoring.

“And Gwyther kept on his guy and scored some points in the end.”

Gwyther lost 10-2.

Contact Arlington Times Sports Reporter Travis Sherer at tsherer@marysvilleglobe.com or 360 659-1300 Ext. 5054.

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