COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — The Lake Stevens wrestling team placed third Saturday, tops among all Washington programs, at the Tri-State tournament hosted by North Idaho College.
Lake Stevens finished with 162 points, well behind winners Post Falls (Idaho) and second-place Hermiston (Ore.).
The Vikings sent four wrestlers to Saturday’s championship round, emerging with one champion and three tight defeats against elite competition.
Jake Douglas captured the 138-pound weight class with a 3-2 decision over Tyler Wolf of Post Falls, cementing his status as an odds-on favorite to end his senior campaign with a WIAA championship.
Trysten Perales (145), Malachi Lawrence (160) and Michael Soler (170) all lost in their championship bouts, with Lawrence’s defeat coming at the hands of Edmonds-Woodway’s Mason McDaniel.
A state finalist last year while wrestling for Juanita, McDaniel had been competing at 170 pounds throughout this season until moving down for Tri-State.
McDaniel took a 2-0 lead into the third period before surviving a late flurry from Lawrence to claim the title in a 4-3 decision.
McDaniel’s victory was the highlight of an uneven weekend for the Warriors, who finished 15th in the team standings.
Other than McDaniel, no Edmonds-Woodway wrestler finished higher than fifth, but the Warriors had five total placers in the top eight.
Perales dropped a 5-2 decision to Post Falls’ Alius Delarosa at 145 pounds, and Soler suffered his first defeat at 170 pounds in an overtime loss to East Valley Spokane’s Trey Meyer.
Meyer, an Iowa State commit and a 2014 national freestyle champion, entered the weekend ranked 20th by Intermat at 160 pounds, but projects as a 174-pounder for the Cyclones.
The match was scoreless through two periods, but Soler earned an escape in the third to take a 1-0 lead. Meyer tied the score in the very late going to force sudden-victory overtime.
Elsewhere, Darrington’s Mason McKenzie continued to prove that talent knows no classification, as the 2B wrestler finished third at 220 pounds.
McKenzie was pinned in the semifinals by Deer Park’s Trevor Eicher, ranked 18th by Intermat.
McKenzie rebounded to defeat Orting’s Erik Jacobson 6-1 to capture third place.
Snohomish came away from Tri-State with a pair of placers in 152-pounder Wyatt Butler (seventh) and 285-pounder Wyatt Gardner (fourth).
“It was a good day for us,” Snohomish coach Andy Aichele said. “It gives our guys confidence for the rest of the season, because I think they out-performed what most people thought they would to. I mean, Wyatt Gardner didn’t even make it to state last year at all, and then he ends up fourth at Tri-State.”
Snohomish was making its first trip to Tri-State in nearly 20 years under Aichele, its first-year coach. Since the Panthers finished inside the top 28 of the team standings (27th) they qualify to bring a full team to next year’s event.
Snohomish earned 49.5 team points from only four wrestlers.
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