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Ybarra, Silvas don't disappoint at Mat Classic

Feb. 24, 2009

Both Tim Silvas and Manny Ybarra had dreams of winning state wrestling championships heading into last weekend's Mat Classic at the Tacoma Dome. The fact that they didn't shouldn't be a disappointment; not to Quincy fans, not to the Jacks' coaching staff and certainly not to themselves.

For Silvas, his third-place finish caps a wonderful senior season and validates all of the hard work he did to stay healthy after suffering from a variety of injuries over the past couple of years. As the season wore on and he became more and more of a celebrity (his matches elicited the most vociferous crowd response during most home matches this year), Silvas' relative inexperience started to show, not on the mats, but in how he dealt with his status as a "big dog." He even told the Post-Register a couple of weeks ago that he didn't enjoy all of the hype suddenly surrounding him, and that he wanted to simply focus on competing.

He competed well at state. He lost his second-round match at 130 pounds by one point. Silvas probably went away from the tournament thinking he should have won that match, and was bitterly disappointed. But he did what any good athlete does in times of despair — he shook off a bad result and focused on what what still at stake. For Silvas, that meant third place — and sure enough, he won four straight matches to claim that prize. That kind of mental tenacity should be appreciated.

"To come back and win like that," Ybarra told the Post-Register, "you've got to take it like a man and come back."

As for Ybarra, the fact that he advanced to the championship match at 135 pounds in his sophomore year augurs well for his future. With a fourth-place finish last year as a freshman and a second-place finish this year, Ybarra is still definitely on track to bring home at least one state title before his career is done. The coach's son grew up wanting to wrestle under the bright lights of the Tacoma Dome, has the requisite knoweldge, ability and passion to make his goals reality and has two more years to accomplish them.

Ybarra's signature win at state was his semi-final victory over Othello's Ruben Lopez, Ybarra's nemesis. Lopez had beaten Ybarra earlier in the season, but Ybarra beat Lopez 11-9 in overtime. In the title match, Ybarra had an unenviable task of competing with Washougal senior Daniel McElhaney, one of the tournament's "untouchable" grapplers who had absolutely destroyed everyone in his path at state before facing Ybarra. Ybarra also lost to McElhaney by a sizeable margin, but that in no way should mar anybody's opinion of the season Ybarra had. He's already a very good wrestler, and he's going to get better.

"I'm very proud," coach Ybarra told the Post-Register. "How could you not be proud of a young sophomore who make the finals?"

• The Quincy boys basketball team got off to another quick start in its season finale against Ellensburg on Friday, taking a five-point lead after the first quarter en route to a 40-35 victory.

The fast start isn't new for the Jacks. In their 18 conference games this season, they held leads after the first period in 11 of them. They were tied after one period in two games, meaning that they were down after the first eight minutes in just five games.

Three times, Quincy led by double digits after the first quarter — Feb. 12 against Othello (up 12), Feb. 6 against Grandview (up 13) and Dec. 20 against Toppenish (up 10).

"That's just the way it's been because at the beginning of the game, we have lots of energy, and nobody's tired yet, and you can really get out and play your area (on defense)," said Quincy coach Wade Petersen after his team's win over the Bulldogs. "As the game wears on, you get mental lapses, and you're tired. I think that led to our early lead. We were really playing hard."

Of course, holding on to that big lead has at times been a problem for the Jacks; indeed, they were finally caught by Ellensburg in the fourth quarter of Friday's game, and they had to come from behind to claim victory. In two of the games in which Quincy had double-digit leads after one quarter (the Othello and Toppenish games), the Jacks actually lost.

"We came out aggressive to start with. That's what we wanted to do; we didn't want to come out and be passive. We wanted to play to our full potential," said senior guard Cory Keller. "I guess we get in the mentality that we're ahead and have sealed the win, but it always comes back to bite us. That's on us. We usually stop (the other team's run), and sometimes we don't. In this case (against Ellensburg), we did."

Quincy (11-7), which finished in third place in the Central Washington Athletic Conference to earn a first-round bye, will take on the winner of tonight's first-round loser-out game between Prosser (9-9) and Ellensburg (9-9) at home on Friday. If they win that game, the Jacks will take on second-seeded Grandview at East Valley High School on Saturday for the right to secure a state berth.

Obviously, holding leads will be a key for the Jacks, who have built their solid record mostly behind solid defense.

• The season came to an end Monday for the Quincy girls basketball team. The Lady Jacks lost a first-round loser-out district playoff game to Wapato 55-40. In the end, this season probably will go down as a learning experience for Quincy, a team which featured just one senior and a large core of juniors who were getting extensive varsity playing time for the first time.

Head coach Cully Donovan's mission over the summer is to identify and develop a point guard, preferably not Taylor Kunkel. That's not to say that Kunkel can't play the point guard spot, but most likely she'll need to be one of Quincy's main scorers next season, and might be better suited to play the wing spot.

All to often this year, Quincy fell behind games early after struggling against full-court press defense. That needs to change if the Lady Jacks want to contend for a state spot next season. In the second half of the season, Quincy proved it could play competitive basketball when it wasn't turning the ball over consistently. If the Lady Jacks can cut down on their miscues next season, they could have some interesting potential.

Contact Doug Flanagan at reporter@qvpr.com or through Facebook:

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