MARYSVILLE — The Iversen family celebrated a mini-family reunion Thursday night.
Then a wrestling meet broke out.
Craig Iversen, the head coach for Marysville Pilchuck, got the best of Rick Iversen, Arlington’s head coach and his father, as the Tomahawks won 48-36 in a nonconference meet at Marysville Pilchuck High School.
“It’s the Iverson-O-Rama,” said Dave Balkwill, Marysville Pilchuck’s announcer at wrestling meets for the past 25 years, before the meet. “It’s Iversen against Iversen.”
In Thursday’s meet, the third “Iversen-O-Rama,” the younger Iversen prevailed in a meet in which every single bout was won by a pin.
“It was special,” Craig said of going up against his father.
Rick Iversen, who used to coach at Marysville Pilchuck, isn’t just a familiar face for the Tomahawks’ head coach. The rest of the Marysville Pilchuck coaching staff knows him pretty well too.
“Our whole coaching staff wrestled for him,” Craig Iversen said.
Rick Iversen had the meet against Marysville Pilchuck circled on his calendar for a while.
“I was really looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s my highlight match of the year.”
The elder Iversen, who also has another son who coaches wrestling at Jackson High School, fell to 0-3 against Craig, who beat him last year by three points and once when he was at Burlington-Edison.
“I’ve never beat him,” Rick Iversen said. “But it’ll be our turn soon.”
Arlington got off to a good start on Thursday, winning the first match of the day when Riley Oakes pinned his opponent in the 120-pound weight class in 4 minutes, 50 seconds. That also turned out to be the longest bout of the day.
The two schools alternated pins until Marysville Pilchuck’s Drew Hatch won at 170-pounds, and ushered in a streak of five straight Tomahawk pins. Jake Merrick won at 182-pounds, to give Marysville Pilchuck its first lead of the match, and Ismael Perez (195), Iggy Gabov (220) and Jory Cooper (285) followed his lead to put the Tomahawks up 48-24.
Arlington closed the meet with back-to-back pins by Jeremy Nygard (106) and Boston Jones (113) to get to the final team score.
“We were strong at lightweights, and they got the better of us with their heavyweights,” Rick Iversen said.
Thanks to eight of the 14 pins taking less than two minutes — including one bout that took 19 seconds to complete — it took less than an hour for the meet to be completed.
With every wrestler winning by a pin, they got the “max points” — the most points given during an individual bout — in every single weight class. Craig Iversen said that doesn’t happen very often.
“That’s really rare,” Craig Iversen said. “I can’t remember the last time that happened.”
According to its roster, the Eagles featured nine freshmen wrestling in the varsity match with four juniors and only one senior, Jake Ferro at 195-pounds.
Marysville Pilchuck’s breakdown is seven sophomores, six seniors and a junior.
“They have a little bit more seasoned squad,” Rick Iversen said. “And they wrestled well. All the kids wrestled really well.”
Craig Iversen was excited to get a nonleague win as the Tomahawks prepare for the start of their Wesco season, which begins in early 2013. It was a nice bonus that it came against his father and Arlington, a school Marysville Pilchuck has developed a rivalry with over the years thanks, in part, to the high schools’ close proximity to each other.
“We’re happy to get a win tonight,” Craig Iversen said. “… Most of our athletic teams go against Arlington. It’s just nice to have tough contests.”
Both coaches said they enjoy the Iversen rivalry. They agree that it’s fun, there are no bad feelings afterward and that the Iversen Christmas won’t be ruined because of a wrestling rivalry.
“It’s all pretty lighthearted,” Craig Iversen said.
“It’s for fun,” agreed his father. “We don’t let the competition get to us.”
At Marysville Pilchuck H.S.
106—Jeremy Nygard (A) pinned Sam Foss 2:32; 113—Boston Jones (A) pinned Jonathan Neumann 1:27; 120—Riley Oakes (A) pinned Jacob Greene 4:50; 126—Ryan Daurie (MP) pinned Parker Spady 3:00; 132—Kyle Bayer (A) pinned Israel Lopez 3:24; 138—Rigo Perez (MP) pinned Ryan Swierkowski 1:38; 145—Conner Gonzalez (A) pinned Anthony Moffitt 1:47; 152—Killian Page (MP) pinned Jesse Driscoll 2:47; 160—Scott Bardell (A) pinned Donovan Hamilton 1:06; 170—Drew Hatch (MP) pinned Kevin Bruch :19; 182—Jake Merrick (MP) pinned Ryan Willis :54; 195—Ismael Perez (MP) pinned Jake Ferro 3:56; 220—Ignat Gabov (MP) pinned Gareth Henderson 1:21; 285—Jory Cooper (MP) pinned Beni Ries 1:47. Records—Arlington 1-5 overall. Marysville Pilchuck 3-2.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
