| I started wrestling with Kentwood my
sophomore year after previously wrestling for Mattson Junior
High and Kent Cougars Junior Wrestling. My sophomore year I
wrestled Varsity at 140lbs. and took 5th in league at
135lbs. The transition from junior high wrestling to high
school wrestling was tough for me in that I chose not to cut
weight, I injured my ankle and the competition was at a much
higher level than I had ever faced.
I made sure I would be prepared for my junior year so I
cut down to the 125lb weight class which was not too hard
just involved extra running and maintaining a healthy diet.
My junior year I split time with senior Kyle Havener and
eventually ended up meeting my teammate for the league
championship. I ended up winning the league championship but
it was a close score of 4-3. My regional tournament was
disappointing in that I won my first 2 matches the first day
and was in perfect position to go to state but ended up
dropping the next 2 matches to become an alternate to state.
My senior year I wrestled at the 125lb weight class. I
was a team captain along with Nathan Nakashima and Ian
Staaleson. That year I made it to the league championship
match and lost to Tyler Bowles. At regionals I knew it was
my last time to make state so I wrestled with a chip on my
shoulder and ended up taking 4th in region to earn the last
spot to the Tacoma Dome for state. Being the last seed I had
to start out wrestling a #1 seed and beat Julio Rodriguez to
advance, then faced Taylor Yonago from Ferris and beat him
11-10 after being down by 6 points. I moved onto the
semi-finals and faced Jonny Gilbertson of Cascade who was
40-0 and beat him to move on to the state championships. In
the finals I was beat by Lucas Chesser of Central Valley 3-0
to take 2nd in state. |
|
Jarrett is remembered for so many things, but his biggest
legacy would have to be the state tournament his senior
year. Towards the end of the year, Jarrett figured out
his style and basically became unstoppable for it. He
started out his state tournament as a huge underdog in his
first match against Julio Rodriguez, but still came out top
in a close score. His second match against Taylor
Yonago of Ferris was a tight one as well, but again Jarrett
finished victorious. His semifinal match was against
undefeated Jonny Gilbertson of Cascade, the consensus pick
to win the state championship. Jarrett outworked the
extremely talented Gilbertson to catapult him to the finals.
In the finals, Jarrett lost a close match (in part to some
questionable officiating), but established himself as the
Cinderella of the state tournament. All of Jarrett's
success is due to his work ethic, love of wrestling, and his
never say die attitude. We are extremely privileged to
have Jarrett helping out Kentwood and Mattson this year. -Coach Sroka,
Anderson, and Anderson |
