When cousins tangle
COEUR d'ALENE - Rivalries like the one between Coeur d'Alene High and Lake City can separate neighbors, as well as friendships on those nights when the two teams face off in athletics.
On Friday night - it separated a family, albeit for only six minutes.
After originally thinking he was going to wrestle at 120 pounds for Coeur d'Alene on Friday night, senior A.J. Konda cut weight to 113 pounds and prepared for the TerHark Cup wrestling dual against rival Lake City like any other match.
It wasn't until the faceoffs before the varsity match he realized he'd be facing his cousin, Killian Konda- a sophomore at Lake City.
"It's the first time I've ever wrestled a relative," A.J. Konda said. "I knew he had a bad back, so I didn’t want to torque it too much. I was just in awe of it. Today, I thought he was wrestling 120 and I was 113. Him being out on the mat in front of me, it was weird.”
The elder Konda beat his cousin 11-5.
“It’s a tough thing for them to have to face each other,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jeff Moffat said. “They wanted to wrestle each other, but it’s always tough when you’re wrestling someone from your own family. We weren’t going to wrestle him there (at 113), but Killian wanted to wrestle him.”
“I thought Killian did a great job,” Lake City coach Corey Owen said. “To wrestle a three-time state placer is tough. It’s kind of like an older brother syndrome. You want to go out and win, but Killian went out and battled against a kid that’s really tough. I’ve been yelling ‘A.J. Konda’ at him in the wrestling room trying to get him going, and I thought he wrestled hard.”
Coeur d’Alene won 11 of 14 matches — five coming by pin — to win its 11th straight TerHark Cup, 58-13 against host Lake City.
“I thought we wrestled well in spots,” Moffat said. “But there’s still some room for improvement. The win by Tristan Dunn was a big one (10-3 decision against Nick Wells) and Gabe Ross (14-5 decision at 160 against Jared Lambert) had a rib injury, but wrestled hard and wrestled a tough kid.”
David Rodriguez (106 pounds) and Jake Farnsworth (145) won by decision for Lake City, which competes in the North Idaho Rumble next Friday and Saturday at Coeur d’Alene High.
“Our kids wrestled hard,” Owen said. “They’re a good team and have 12 juniors and seniors in their lineup and we’ve got 12 freshmen and sophomores. They’re a little more older and experienced, but we’re getting better.”
Coeur d’Alene travels to Post Falls on Thursday.
126 — Chase Lincoln, Cd’A, d. Cory Wells, 7-0. 132 — Michael Carr, LC, p. Kyle White, 5:59. 138 — Tristan Dunn, Cd’A, d. Nick Wells, 10-3. 145 — Jacob Farnsworth, LC, d. Steven Price, 8-5. 152 — Sean White, Cd’A, p. Derek Wilkinson, 2:21. 160 — Gabe Ross, md. Jared Lambert, 14-5. 170 — Hudson Staub, Cd’A, p. Cory Cook, 4:51. 182 — Phoenix Duncan, Cd’A, d. Jacob Ramey, 7-4. 195 — Dakota Groves, Cd’A, p. Justus Grammer, 5:37. 220 — Tyler Jankay, Cd’A, p. Austin Porter, 3:28. 285 — Matt James, Cd’A, p. Zion Dixon, 1:11. 98 — Anthony Price, Cd’A, p. Richard Warner, :17. 106 — Garrett Harrison, LC, md. Dylan Shaffer, 10-2. 113 — A.J. Konda, Cd’A, d. Killian Konda, 11-5. 120 — Drew Gorringe, Cd’A, by forfeit.