Vikings on course

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, December 16, 2003

EVERETT — The Lake Stevens wrestling team took one more step toward its 14th straight league title on Tuesday night with a 54-17 victory over Cascade.

Though matchups with strong Oak Harbor and Marysville-Pilchuck teams lie ahead, Lake Stevens flexed its muscles by winning 10 of 14 matches in a Western Conference North Division meet at Reg Scodeller Gymnasium.

The Vikings, whose streak of won or shared league titles began with the 1990-91 season, improved to 3-0 in the division and overall.

"Tradition never graduates," said junior heavyweight Clint Osborn, quoting a recent Lake Stevens football team slogan. "We think about (the streak) all the time. We need to keep it going."

Lake Stevens won six matches by pin and two by technical fall. The only two matches won by Vikings to go the distance were by major decision, which requires a point-spread of eight or more.

"They are about as solid as I’ve ever seen them," said Cascade coach Sherm Iversen, speaking of a Lake Stevens program that won Class 3A state titles in 2000 and 2001.

If there was any doubt the Vikings would keep its long league dual meet victory streak (approximately 80 matches) alive, the Lake Stevens big boys erased it quickly.

Matt Leonard (215) and Osborn (275) used only 77 seconds combined to pin their two sophomore opponents. The quick falls gave the Vikings a 44-6 lead, cementing a victory over a Cascade team (1-1, 4-1) that featured sophomores in eight matches.

One of the better signs for Lake Stevens coach Brent Barnes at the start of the season was Osborn’s new girth. The junior weighed between 205 and 210 last season, giving the Vikings two state competitors in the 215 class. Osborn is up to 235 this season, meaning Barnes won’t have to worry about lineup decisions in the top two weights. Leonard, who finished fourth in the state 215 competition, often wrestled up last season.

"It’s nice to not have one of them wrestling heavyweight when they should be at 215," said Barnes.

The Vikings also did plenty of damage in the middle weights.

Lake Stevens’ Lester Brown, a fifth-place finisher in the 112-pound class at the Class 4A state meet in February, scored at will in the meet’s first match (130 pounds). He nearly pinned Chad Johnson on three occasions before winning by a 16-1 technical fall with less than a minute remaining in the second round.

After Kai VanLeuven’s pin of Cascade’s James Morrison, Tony Kubec nearly duplicated Brown’s victory to give the Vikings a 16-0 lead through three bouts. Bruins sophomore 140-pounder Brady Douglas held off what appeared to be a certain Kubec pin for the final minute of the first round. Kubec, a three-time state competitor who transferred from Cascade to Lake Stevens after his sophomore year, won by a 15-0 technical fall with 45 seconds to go in the second round.

Kubec’s freshman brother, Kelly, won the 103 match 10-2.

Jonny Gilbertson (112), recorded Cascade’s only pin after Lake Stevens won six straight bouts.

Ricky Bargreen (160) and Mike Shea (189) each won by pin for the Vikings.