STATE MEET: Shadow Ridge’s Fisher gleans experience from rare setbacks

Athletes often learn more from a loss than a win.

Even when one loss stands in the way of an undefeated season.

Shadow Ridge wrestler Brandon Fisher has revisited the lone loss of his senior season as often as any win.

“It’s stuck in my mind,” Fisher said. “The coaches always tell me, 'You always remember the kids you lose to.’ I’ve never forgotten any of my losses in high school wrestling.

“Every time I step on the mat, I know anyone can lose at any time on the mat. You never know what is going to happen. So you always have to wrestle your best, just in case.”

The 195-pound senior puts his 69-1 record on the line at the Class 4A state tournament at Cox Pavilion. Wrestling begins at 8:30 a.m. Friday, with the 4A semifinals scheduled for noon. The 2A semifinals are set for 4:15 p.m., with the 3A tournament to follow.

Championship bouts for all classifications will be at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Fisher knows what it’s like to take a one-loss record into the state meet. He did the same thing at last year’s state tournament, losing by one point to Reed junior Broc Westlake in the 189-pound title match.

The lean Shadow Ridge wrestler had a one-point lead before giving up a late takedown to Westlake, who held on for a 7-6 win.

Fisher and Westlake could potentially meet again in the finals Saturday. But the Shadow Ridge wrestler feels better prepared against top-flight competition this year, winning the Rocky Mountain Rumble in Utah and placing second at the Sierra Nevada Classic — where his only loss came in the final of the 97-team tournament, to Danny Chaid of Bellarmine Prep (Calif.).

“I think I’m hitting it just right, at the perfect time for state,” Fisher said. “I’m right where I want to be, so I’m excited.”

Fisher, who has 44 pins this season, is no stranger to the postseason. He was a key outside hitter on Shadow Ridge’s state qualifying boys volleyball team a year ago, and he remembers well the Mustangs’ state champion squad of 2009.

“Being in that environment in volleyball, knowing what it feels like to be state champs, it helps me want that more,” Fisher said. “That’s really helped me this year. I’m ready to give everything I have; you never know when will be your last match.”

Beyond wrestling and volleyball, Fisher also ran cross country and posted 46 tackles for Shadow Ridge’s football team.

“He’s a great leader for us,” Shadow Ridge wrestling coach Gus Gledhill said. “Everyone in our program looks up to (Fisher); they see his records, his accomplishments, and it’s something they want to strive for. We don’t have any state champions, and we want kids to be able to see him and all he’s accomplished.”

Fisher spent a total of 8 minutes, 6 seconds on the mat during the Sunset tournament, claiming two first-period pins and a third-period fall in the final round.

But he knows the state tournament presents a new level of competition.

“I think one of my problems last year was that a lot of my pins came fast,” said Fisher, who has won 44 matches by pin. “I thought it would happen every match, and then I got to state and realized it wouldn’t happen anymore.”

The Mustangs have relied on Fisher to anchor the upper weights, which led to a 7-1 dual-meet record in the Northwest.

“That’s the weight class where we were sure we could get six points in every dual we went into,” Gledhill said. “There were times when we would get that pin, and it would help our 220-pounder to win. There were some duals where we’d get to him, and the dual would still be in question. Then he’d come up, get a pin, and we’d start rolling.”