Mat Classic wrestling gets underway on Friday in Washington

This week's happenings on the Washington prep sports scene:

1. Mat Classic starts Friday: One of the biggest spectacles in high school sports begins Friday morning. Mat Classic, the state wrestling tournament held annually at the Tacoma Dome, is a full weekend of wall-to-wall action. Twenty-four mats run simultaneously all day. The finals wrap things up on Saturday night. Brackets can be found on wiaa.com.

2. O'Dea wins Metro title: Top-ranked O'Dea (Seattle) (20-2) won its first Metro League title since 2004 by beating Franklin 86-71 in the championship game. Sekeo Wiggs scored 23 to lead the Fighting Irish. Franklin beat Rainier Beach in the semifinals, making it the first time Beach hasn't played for the league title since 1997.

3. No. 1 Federal Way falls: No. 8 Auburn Riverside knocked off top-ranked Federal Way in the South Puget Sound League 4A championship game, 66-51. Makenna Clark scored 22 to lift the Ravens. The Eagles (19-2), who hadn't lost to an in-state team this year, were playing without Talia Walton, a Washington signee.

4. Woodinville's gymnastics run ends: Woodinville (Woodinville) was the four-time defending Class 4A state gymnastics champion. But the state power won't be at state when the meet begins Friday at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall. Newport (Bellevue) won the only berth from the SeaKing District meet. Newport is a traditional 3A state power what moved up to the 4A classification.

5. State swimming is this weekend: Mercer Island is going for its sixth straight Class 3A state swim title this weekend at King Country Aquatic Center in Federal Way. Prelims are Friday and finals are on Saturday.

TOP 5 PERFORMERS
* Tia Presley, Gonzaga Prep girls basketball: The senior broke the Greater Spokane League career scoring record when she scored 24 points as Gonzaga Prep beat North Central 38-36 to clinch the league title. The record of 1,314 was held by Angie Bjorklund, who plays at Tennessee.

* Brooke Gilbert, Glacier Peak girls soccer: The senior midfielder was named the Gatorade state girls soccer player of the year.

* Jordan Russell, Lincoln boys basketball: The senior scored 17 points to put him over 1,000 for his career during a 64-46 win over Wilson that wrapped up the Narrows League 3A title.

* Tamara Jones, Prosser girls basketball: Jones had 19 points and 19 rebounds as Prosser beat Wapato 43-34 to win the Central Washington Athletic Conference tournament title.

* Cadie Pratt, Mead (Spokane) gymnastics: Pratt won the all-around title (36.9) and the bars (9.35) and floor (9.7) at the eastern Washington 4A regional meet.

UPCOMING EVENTS
The new state basketball format has made this a busy week for prep sports fans. Normally, a few classifications would begin district basketball tournaments, but with the state moving to a regional format for the first rounds of the tournament and with all state tournaments playing the same weekend, everybody is in district tournaments this week. In previous years, half the state hoops tournaments would be the first week of March and the other half would during the second week. All state tournaments wrap up the first week of March. With state wrestling, swimming and diving and gymnastics this weekend, it makes it a busy time.

RECRUITING NEWS
Enumclaw wide receiver Terren Houk has committed to BYU. ... Bothell running back Luke Proulx plans to play football at Army. .... SPSL South co-MVP Kaitlyn Molloy of Spanaway Lake signed with Montana.

NATE'S NOTES
I'm not normally a big wrestling fan. Yes, I recognize it takes tremendous discipline and toughness to excel in the sport, but it's not my thing.

I make exception once a year during Mat Classic. It's a cool event. As I mentioned, there are 24 mats running simultaneously with thousands of fans cheering and an omnipresent voice running it all.

One loss and state tournament dreams are crushed. A season's worth of work goes unfilled. The joy-of-victory, agony-of-defeat vibe is electric, especially during Saturday's finals.

Even if wrestling is not your sport, give Mat Classic a shot.

Nathan Joyce has covered high school sports in Washington for 13 years. He works at the Kitsap Sun in Bremerton.