Redmond wrestling: 15 pins, a beard and tons of success

Published 11:33 am Friday, January 15, 2016

Lantz Schwabenbauer’s Duck Dynasty-esque red beard may soon be a thing of the past if Redmond High junior wrestlers Luke Kennedy and Jose Conde keep knocking off opponents. 

If Kennedy places at state or if Conde qualifies for state, the Mustang assistant coach will shave his beard, according to head coach Robert Kaneko, who relays this information with a smile and a chuckle.

Kaneko’s squad is already motivated to succeed and sports a 13-4 overall dual-meet record and a 3-2 dual-meet mark in 4A Kingco action. For Kennedy and Conde, they’re even more fired up to notch wins with Schwabenbauer’s beard as a prize. At press time, Kennedy was 16-1 (not including four forfeit wins) with 15 pins at 182 pounds and 220-pounder Conde took first at the Nathan Hale tournament earlier this season.

Being around the Redmond wrestlers is a good place to be, Kaneko said.

The team won the Redmond Mustang Invitational for the first time, took second at the Nathan Hale tourney and is looking forward to more wrestling, including some postseason action and hopefully the state meet, where that beard status will be decided.

First-year varsity head coach Kaneko, who replaced retired 22-year Mustang head coach Paul Mullen, said the team concept is working for Redmond this season.

“And that’s hard to do with wrestling, because wrestling is such an individual sport, but I’ve pushed the team concept with the other coaches. I’ve pushed it with the kids,” Kaneko said. “I want them to function as a team, and we’re always there to support each other. We’re always there to work together. We expect success and the kids have bought into that. The kids are working harder than any group I have ever seen, and it’s paying off.”

Kaneko also serves as the wrestling coach at Evergreen Middle School, a Redmond High feeder school that has won the district title 11 or 12 times during his tenure and is currently riding a five-year unbeaten streak.

He is joined on the Mustang coaching staff by primary assistants Schwabenbauer (a former college star and coach), Trevor Long (a former Evergreen and Redmond High wrestler), Esteban Herrera and John Brookman.

Redmond doesn’t sport any seniors in the varsity lineup, but is rolling with Kennedy, Conde, junior Judah Dorsey (138), freshman Jeremy Hernandez (132) and others. On the girls’ side, junior Nadia Medvinsky wrestled at 145 for the first half of the boys/girls varsity season, and will drop to 140 and compete in girls competitions the rest of the way.

Kaneko said that co-captain Kennedy, who will trim down to 170 in the postseason, is a special wrestler.

“He is just that kid that every coach wants. He’s the kid with the leadership and the energy and the enthusiasm. He sets the example in everything,” said Kaneko, who added that Kennedy is one of four Redmond wrestlers with straight A’s. 

Kennedy said he became motivated to qualify for state this year by attending last season’s state meet and witnessing the level of competition at the Tacoma Dome.

“I decided that was something I wanted to be a part of. So during the offseason, obviously I had to juggle football, as well, but I spent tons of time in the weight room, putting on size and strength,” said Kennedy, who also feels he possesses an aggressive mindset that gives him an edge.

And the pins — Kennedy’s got plenty of them and he’s gunning to break the school record of 24, set by Mitch Colleran in 2004.

“That’s a big deal to me,” Kennedy said of the pins. “My wrestling style is I like to come out hard, I like to come out fast and if I have to outlast someone, I can do that — but I’m always working for the pins.”

Another Mustang standout is junior co-captain Nick Kaneko, the head coach’s son, who is 9-5 at 195.

Nick, who started wrestling as an eighth-grader at Evergreen, not only works out at practice, but trains on his own and studies high school state wrestling film for hours, according to his dad. A key to Nick’s success is combining his upper-body strength with leg attacks, the wrestler said.

“When I started wrestling in eighth grade, I just kind of fell in love with the sport after playing football, and I decided I was going to dedicate more time to this than anything else,” Nick said, adding that wrestlers grab success when they determine “how much you’re willing to give that day, how much you’re willing to put into it and I think that’s really something special about this sport.”