Stanwood wrestling team forfeits league schedule

STANWOOD — The Stanwood High School wrestling team has forfeited its final six dual meets of the 2015-16 season — including the entirety of its Wesco 3A North slate — because since the beginning of January the Spartans have not been able to field a lineup of the seven wrestlers needed to constitute a legal match.

Stanwood athletic director Tom Wilfong said a combination of athletic code violations, academic ineligibility and skin conditions have reduced the already-small roster to below competition levels.

“We started the season with 20 wrestlers, and since the numbers were low to start, the issues did have more of an effect than they normally would have,” Wilfong said in an e-mail Tuesday.

Stanwood had six wrestlers disciplined for athletic code violations, and two wrestlers were unable to compete after picking up skin conditions that are common to the sport. Wilfong said the number of wrestlers academically ineligible for competition has varied from week to week.

Wilfong said that the skin conditions were confined to the two wrestlers, and the health department was not involved.

The Spartans sent four wrestlers to the Graham Morin Memorial tournament in Bellingham — three freshmen and a sophomore — on Dec. 19, and after the holiday break, Stanwood has forfeited to Kamiak in a non-league dual on Jan. 5, and to Marysville Getchell (Jan. 7), Marysville Pilchuck (Jan. 14), Arlington (Jan. 22) and Oak Harbor (Tuesday) in league matches.

Wilfong said Stanwood also will forfeit its regular-season finale against Everett at home on Thursday, but the Spartans will wrestle exhibition matches against the Seagulls. “Since we cannot field a lineup of seven or more wrestlers, it will still be a forfeit,” he said.

Tuesday’s dual meet at Oak Harbor was set to be Senior Night for the Wildcats. After learning Monday morning that Stanwood planned to forfeit, Oak Harbor coach Larry Falcon scrambled to find an opponent for his team to preserve Senior Night. Anacortes agreed to travel to Oak Harbor and lost 65-12. The Wildcats celebrated the careers of four senior wrestlers and one student manager before the match.

“We heard Monday morning that Stanwood was not going to be able to field a team, and between teaching classes I was able to get a hold of Anacortes and they were willing to come down and wrestle us,” Falcon said. “My hat’s off to them. They’re outstanding individuals who were willing to come down at a moment’s notice. Not many teams would be willing to come and wrestle and take a loss such as this. We really appreciated it.”

Wilfong declined to elaborate on the nature of the athletic code violations that forced the suspension of the six Stanwood wrestlers, but he said those disciplined would be eligible to compete at the Class 3A sub-regional tournament, which the Spartans are scheduled to host Feb. 5-6.

He added that the athletic department would continue its typical grade checks to determine the academic eligibility for all wrestlers.

This season’s struggles are in marked contrast to last year’s success for the Stanwood wrestling program under coach Ray Mather, who did not return messages seeking comment for this story.

In 2014-15, the Spartans finished 11th in the 3A team standings at Mat Classic, powered by West Weinert’s individual state title at 138 pounds and Garret Arrona’s second-place finish at 195.

Weinert, Arrona and Anthony Ortega, who placed sixth at 182, graduated in 2015.

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