After missing the first couple weeks of the season with a back injury, the junior is looking for his second state title.
When a twinge of pain hit Mason Phillips in early August, he was fearful the sport he loves – wrestling – would be taken away for an extended period again.
Phillips healed much quicker than his previous injury and rest of the state at 138 or 145 pounds shouldn’t take him lightly.
The Stanwood High School wrestler was experiencing back pain after a rigorous summer training and participating in Cadet & Junior Nationals in Fargo, N.D., from July 17-22.
Two seasons ago as a freshman, Phillips missed the entire season after suffering a serious right knee injury – one requiring surgery – that put him out of action for about nine months.
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So when the back pain flared up prior to his junior year, Phillips was scared he’d get another long break. Instead, he took about three months off from August until the beginning of December.
“I had stress fractures in two different vertebrae,” said Phillips, who endured a midseason suspension to go 23-0 and win a state title at 138 pounds in Class 3A as a sophomore. “I was in a back brace for a whole month, so that was a little concerning at first. When it first started, I almost couldn’t even move. I was laying in bed in pain and I couldn’t walk.
“That kind of scared me. I thought I was going to have to go through another nine-months break. I only had to miss like the first week or two of [high-school] practice. I ended up lucking out and I was fine.”
Phillips has opened the season 8-0 after winning the 145-pound final at the Graham Morin Invitational in Bellingham on Saturday. Phillips isn’t sure if he’ll aim for 138 or 145 for state, but whatever weight he choose, he’ll be tough to beat.
“He’s set some pretty big goals for himself,” Spartans coach Ray Mather said. “That freshman year was pretty rough on him. One of those goals was to being a four-time state champ and to know and see that wasn’t going to be a reality was a tough time for him.
“That [injury] was something that got him a little more focused and made him not take things for granted.”
Healthy again, Phillips has his sights set on becoming the school’s first two-time state champion.
With his success, he’s earned nicknames such as “King of the North” for winning the Wesco North title in his weight class last season and “The Cobra” for his decisive scoring move. His teammate and brother, Carson (who is out with a broken elbow), dubbed him “King of the North” and his coach, Mather, bequeathed him with the title of “The Cobra.”
His 2016 summer success – winning a Greco Roman title at 132 at Cadet & Junior Nationals and taking second at 132 in freestyle – has helped him garner interest from college coaches. Fresno State University, Oregon State University, Ohio State University, University of Nebraska and University of Wyoming have all come calling so far.
“Over the summer, I was hugely motivated,” said Phillips, who likely suffered his back issues from overuse training and participating at nationals. “For three months before nationals, I did nothing but just train. After the [high-school] state tournament, I took like two or three days off and then I was back to training, getting ready for that national tournament.”
In his abbreviated time on the mat so far for the Spartans, Phillips has been near flawless despite his struggles to stay healthy. He is 31-0 in his Stanwood career through last weekend with nine pins, and so far, in 2016-17 no opponent has a scored an offensive point off of Phillips.
“He’s a technician,” Mather said. “He’s a scoring machine. He’s slick and he has great body awareness. He can feel things and know when what is coming, probably even before his opponent does sometimes. And, he’s flexible, so he can get out of tricky situations where most people can’t.
“How he keeps trying to challenge himself and evolve, it’s amazing. Right now, he’s on a different plane compared to a lot of kids.”
Over the weekend, Phillips won two matches at the Squalicum High School tournament by technical fall and one by pin. In a Dec. 15 double dual meet with Everett and Arlington, Phillips dismantled Arlington’s Gavin Rork 20-5 for a technical fall victory. Rork was the Class 3A state runner-up last season at 132.
“I’m back to where I was,” Phillips said of returning from his back injury. “It doesn’t bother me at all.”
Phillips was at rock bottom when he suffered the torn ACL in his right knee in August of 2014 before his freshman season. The inability to get back in time to salvage his season plunged him further down, but that was temporary.
“I was kind of working through stuff trying to get back, and once I found out I wasn’t going to be able to wrestle, I was pretty sad and upset about it because I really wanted to be a four-time state champ,” Phillips said. “But I kind of got over it and realized there was nothing I could do about it. Then, I just figured I had a lot of work to do after taking nine months off to try and at least win three.
“I kind of looked at the next goal and moved on from there.”
The recovery process from knee surgery was an act of patience for Phillips.
“For the first two or three weeks, I couldn’t even walk,” he said. “Then, for the first three or four months after that, all I could do was just walk. I wasn’t allowed to run or anything.
“I slowly got up to light jogging. It took the whole nine months until I was able to get back on the mat again.”
Being away for so long from wrestling and simply watching his friends get better and enjoy the sport was fuel on the comeback trail.
“I know when I was gone for those nine months, it really made me realize how much I enjoyed wrestling and [how much] I missed it,” Phillips said. “Seeing all my other friends winning and being real successful and seeing the national high-school rankings and seeing kids the year before that I was beating up on getting ranked really high.
“I was really excited to get back and wrestle how I know I could wrestle and try to get people to notice me.”
Whitehead to have knee surgery, out 3-4 weeks
Tahoma senior Nick Whitehead missed last weekend’s Tri-State Wrestling Tournament and will have knee surgery, which will keep him out of action for three to four weeks, according to Bears assistant coach Boomer Burnham.
The 132-pounder finished second at 126 pounds in Class 4A last season and has designs on ending his four-year career with a state title.
Marquee matches upcoming
Lake Stevens, ranked No. 8 in the Class 4A team rankings by WashingtonWrestlingReport.net, travels to No. 5 Moses Lake for a nonleague dual meet on Thursday.
Top targets
Individually, locals winning titles at Tri-State Wrestling Tournament at North Idaho College on Saturday were White River’s Gabe Hawthorne (113), Lake Stevens’ Malachi Lawrence (170) and Tahoma’s Kione Gill (195).
Big performances
Six of the top 10 team finishers at the Tri-State Tournament in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, over the weekend were from Washington state, led by Mead of Spokane in third place with 152 points behind team champion Havre, Mont. (184).
Orting was fifth at 142.5 and Tahoma sixth at 140.5. Lake Stevens tied for eighth place with 116.
Monroe tied for first place in the team standings with Skyview of Vancouver with 155 points and four individual champions in Saturday’s La Center Wildcats Invitational. Taylor Ivy won the 138-pound class, Brock Rice took 145, Josh Felder 220 and Thomas Stieler 285 for the Bearcats.
Local teams Marysville-Pilchuck, Auburn, Edmonds-Woodway, O’Dea and Oak Harbor occupied spots second through sixth in the team race at Saturday’s 16th Graham Morin Invitational at Squalicum High School in Bellingham. M-P registered 172.5 points to finish behind Ferndale’s winning total of 239.
Auburn placed six wrestlers in the finals, crowning champions Aaron Faasse (106) and Cole Washburn (182). M-P got titles from Cole Daurie (113), Devin Fahlman (132) and Keith Pablo (170).
Auburn Riverside took second at Saturday’s Lindbergh Invitational with 163 points to Montesano’s 172.5 winning total. The Ravens got individual crowns from Jaden Cassel (106) and Yusef Nelson (113).
Senior Diego Gallegos, the defending 182-pound Class 2A state champion, won the 182-pound class at his school’s invite with three pins, including a semifinal pin in 14 seconds.
Kennedy Catholic’s Bowen McConville, the runner-up in 3A at 195 last season, won the 195 division at Lindbergh on Saturday. Arlington’s Gavin Rork, runner-up in 3A at 132 last season, captured the 145 title at the event.
Bethel won the Rogers Holiday Tournament on Saturday with 237.5 points to runner-up Kentwood’s 216.5 total. The Braves had five individual winners.
Kamiak won the Lynnwood Classic on Saturday with 189 points to Mariner’s 140 total. Bishop Blanchet’s Zachariah Gomez was named the events outstanding wrestler, winning the 126-pound class.
Preseason team and individual rankings
All classifications page on Washington Wrestling Report.
The high school results page on Washington Wrestling Report.