Juanita junior wrestler Cody Treddenbarger’s regular season was good. He won all but two of his matches. Heading into the post season he was one of the wrestlers to watch. But his trek to the state title in the heavyweight division turned heads. Prep wrestling message boards began to light up with the posts of “Dread the Tred” after he swept his way through the 3A KingCo and district tournament with all pins. He only wrestled into the second round during one of those eight matches.
“I would always think that I was going to go all three rounds,” said Treddenbarger, whose first love is football. “I definitely didn’t think I would pin my way through that quick.”
That streak continued into the Mat Classic at the 3A level of the state tournament. But one of the most amazing things about Treddenbarger’s run was the fact that he didn’t qualify for the Mat Classic during his previous year. As a sophomore Treddenbarger was still adjusting to a new school, transferring from Evergreen High School in White Center.
“I had some issues with my grades and was academically ineligible,” said Treddenbarger. “It is a lot more calm out here and a lot easier to focus on school and sports.”
The motivation of being held out of the activities he loves helped Treddenbarger refocus on his school work and get back on the mat. After all, he had only found wrestling two years ago.
“Some of my friends wrestled in ninth grade,” said Treddenbarger, who plays on the offensive and defensive for the Juanita football team. “I got to be teammates with Senio Kelemete, who is at the UW for football.”
During his first year of wrestling, as a freshman, Treddenbarger qualified for the state tournament. But the lack of experience would hurt the then Wolverine.
“Everyone I wrestled was a senior,” said Treddenbarger. “But I lost by one point to the guy who placed second that year.”
But the experience of being in front of thousands of people in the Tacoma Dome and facing the best in the state was invaluable this season.
“I think it made me more comfortable this time,” said Treddenbarger. “Everyone was really excited for me.”
Treddenbarger also said that he was glad he lost twice during the regular season because it gave him more things to learn from. The junior also learned a lot from one of his coaches, Grant Thompson.
“He helped me a lot with technique,” said Treddenbarger. “He isn’t a heavyweight so he had techniques that the other heavy weights weren’t expecting. I wanted to win every match cause I knew that if I lost it would just get harder.”
For most wrestlers, a loss means up to six matches in two days in order to place at state, instead of just four in the championship bracket.
And while Treddenbarger pinned his way to the title match, he said that he was not as confident going into the final. His opponent was Jose Barajas of Sunny Side, had also pinned his way through the tournament. But Barajas had been on the mat a little under seven minutes in comparison to Treddenbarger’s 2:06.
“I knew he was going to be tough cause he had some quick matches,” said the Rebel.
It took the junior just 46 seconds to pin Barajas.
One “Dread the Tred” post summed up the Rebel’s journey at state: “Usually when a kid wrestles for less than three minutes at state it is because he went two-and-out. In this instance, less than three minutes of wrestling wins state. Amazing.”
Treddenbarger knows, as he saw with former teammate Kelemente, being a senior next year will not be easy. But he will use what he learned by watching Kelemente while at Evergreen to lead the Rebels next year.
“I am going to have to work hard,” said Treddenbarger. “I want to see more guys on our team right there with me at state. I want to show guidance. I know that if I work hard they will too.”
