Earlier Loss Ignites Fire In Kip Hauser -- Issaquah Junior Vows It Won't Happen Again

He was bloodied, taken down twice and finally beaten.

And three days later, Issaquah High junior Kip Hauser feels sure of only one thing: It won't happen again.

Hauser, a two-time KingCo Conference wrestling champion, suffered only the second loss of his 34-match season on Monday when freshman Eddie Dahlen of Vancouver's Evergreen beat him 5-3 for the 108-pound championship of the Class AAA Region II tournament.

"It was actually real, real painful," said Hauser of the match Dahlen won with a takedown in the final minute. "I didn't want to show my emotions very much, but it was pretty depressing. . . . Because I thought I was wrestling a lot better than that."

If he wasn't Monday, he will make sure he is when the two-day Mat Classic VIII opens at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the Tacoma Dome.

Hauser, who at 101 pounds finished eighth as a freshman and third last year, has his sights set on back-to-back state championships. That would start with a victory over Central Valley's John Reese in his 108-pound opener tomorrow.

"Winning it this year means as much or more than next year," said Hauser, a 10-year veteran of the sport who has a runner-up finish and a fourth-place finish in national tournaments the past two summers. "I really am expecting it. I wouldn't want anything less. I took third last year, and I'm definitely not placing third or lower And second's just about as bad as third."

Besides Dahlen, who's on the opposite side of the bracket, Hauser's strongest competition for the title likely will come from Moses Lake senior Tony Vehrs - last year's 101 runner-up and the only wrestler to beat Hauser at the tournament. Vehrs, who also is on the other side of the bracket, beat Hauser 5-2 in the 101 semifinals last season after beating him at state the previous year, too.

As strong a contender as Hauser might have been before Monday, the loss might make him stronger.

"I think it's a good thing, myself," Issaquah Coach Jamie Wise said. "Sometimes it takes a little bit of pressure off. At the same time, it's kind of a motivator. You don't like that feeling of getting beat, so you work even harder to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Wise has seen the added fire in Hauser during practice this week.

"It helped me go over what I need to work on, definitely," Hauser said. "I've been working pretty hard since I lost. It's just a temporary setback."

Hauser, whose father Kip Sr. is a former Lake Washington High wrestling coach, has a 64-7 record over the past two seasons and has improved steadily since his freshman days of wrestling at 101 despite weighing less than 90 pounds. His only other loss this season, by a 5-4 score, was in an early-season tournament against Snohomish's 101-pound Cosman Bishop - a double amputee with exceptional balance and the upper-body strength of a middleweight wrestler.

"He looks like you can just bulldoze him over, but he's got real good balance," Hauser said. "And he's the strongest kid I've faced this year definitely. . . . I should have just been a little smarter in my strategy."

That won't be a problem this week, he figures, as he tries to push his losses even deeper into the past.

As he tries to continue the climb toward the top that he started two seasons ago.

A climb that this year, Hauser said, had better result in a state title.

If not, he said, "It would depress me a heck of a lot more than losing that match in regionals."

---------------------------------------------------.

Mat Classic VIII.

What: State wrestling championships for Class AAA, AA and A/B. When: Tomorrow and Saturday. Where: Tacoma Dome. Session times: Tomorrow - 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; 5-9 p.m. Saturday - 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; 5-6:30 p.m. (consolation finals); 7-10 p.m. (championship finals). 10:15 p.m. (team awards). Tickets: Adults/students/senior citizens - Single session, $6, $4, $4; All-day pass, $10, $6, $6; Tournament pass, $14, $8, $8. Regional champions from KingCo Conference: Fred Fairbanks, Inglemoor (141); Joey Freni, Juanita (158); Curt Armstrong, Inglemoor (215). Other state qualifiers from KingCo: Pat Runez, Woodinville (101); Kip Hauser, Issaquah (108); Adam Putter, Newport (108); Nick Rodriquez, Redmond (115); Tyson Chester, Woodinville (122); Jeff Peery, Bellevue (122); Joel Raff, Inglemoor (129); Drew Oliver, Newport (141); Kurt Ahlstrand, Woodinville (158); Mike Martinsen, Inglemoor (168); Brandon Pickering, Redmond (168); Matt Pabst, Woodinville (168); Ryan Palmquist, Woodinville (178); Adam Poort, Redmond (190); Dave Martinsen, Inglemoor (190); Isaac Amundson, Woodinville (215); Trevor Howard, Mercer Island (215); Jeremy Peterson, Issaquah (Hvy). AA state qualifiers from Eastside: Clayton Bowen, Liberty (115); Peter Crumbaker, Eastside Catholic (129); Will Haag, Mount Si (141); Ryan Anderson, Eastside Catholic (168); Curt Sauvage, Mount Si (190); Ray Gombiski, Cedarcrest (Hvy).