After losing the 4A North Region championship in overtime, Dominion’s Adeeb Atariwa became the first wrestler in Dominion’s history to win a state championship.

Atariwa had an impressive year by any standard, winning 46 matches to only 5 losses all season. He wrestles in the heaviest weight class, 285 pounds. When asked about Atariwa’s improvement from sophomore year to junior year, Coach Young said, “Of course he’s gotten better. This year he moves better and lifts with the football team so he’s getting a lot better in both.He is not afraid to go into a ‘mean streak’ when he needs it.”

Going into the post-season Atariwa was confident that he would come out on top. After winning districts in overtime to Sherando’s Ben Avery, Atariwa went into Regionals as a favorite to win.

In his first two regional matches, Atariwa pinned both of his opponents in under a minute, Sending him to the regional championship. In the Regional championship, Atariwa again faced Ben Avery, and the match ended up going to overtime. This time however, Atariwa could not pull off the overtime win, as Avery got payback for his last loss in districts and won a 2-0 overtime decision for the regional championship.

After that heartbreaking loss, Atariwa went into the State Finals with a chip on his shoulder. He had made it to the state finals and needed three wins to win it all. From here on it was single elimination and Atariwa started feeling the pressure mounting, “If I lost, there were too many people I would upset,” he said. To add to the pressure of reaching the finals, Adeeb’s next two opponents finished in the top 5 last year. He came out on top and won them both with ease, pinning one in the quarterfinals and winning the semifinal 8-4.

The championship match had a familiar line-up, as it was another rematch between Avery and Atariwa.  Atariwa felt extremely confident entering  the match.  “I knew I could beat him because I beat him 3 times already this year, and he only beat me once at regionals in overtime, he said.”

The two wrestlers were very accustomed to each other’s style after their previous matches. They knew each other’s go to moves and ended the first round with a 0-0 tie.

However, Atariwa abruptly ended the match with a pin in the next round, “It was my choice in the second round and I picked bottom, and I got up really fast. I locked up the lat drop and then I threw him and he was on his back and that was it.”

Atariwa showed his excitement and playful side to the crowd following the match,” I felt great, It was so awesome, I shook his hand and then I started flexing. Then I went up to my coach, Mr. Young, and I jumped on him and almost broke his back,” he said.

Atariwa’s teammates and coaches cheered him on and were not surprised by his success. Gabriel Page, a teammate of Atariwa’s, said,” He works hard in practice and it translates to the mat.”His coach gave similar praise, saying,” Everybody on the team looks up to his success.”

Atariwa, only a junior will have a huge target on his back next year as he tries to repeat as 4a state champion.