Everett, Arlington 2nd and 3rd behind Sedro

Published 11:36 pm Saturday, February 9, 2008

RENTON — Jake Anstett is a big kid with big goals.

So you can’t blame the Everett senior for being a little disappointed with not being able to challenge himself by wrestling for a 3A Region 1 championship.

Anstett never got a chance to compete for a title, instead winning the 285-pound weight class by injury default. He finished the day wrestling no more than five minutes, after pinning his first two opponents.

“I like to challenge myself … but I’m happy that I’m advancing to state,” Anstett said.

Anstett’s win led a successful day for the Seagulls. The senior captain led Everett to second place at the 3A Region 1 tournament held Saturday at Liberty High School in Renton.

Everett finished with 169.5 points, 20 behind 3A powerhouse Sedro-Woolley’s 189.5. Arlington finished third with 129.

Everett had seven wrestlers qualify for the 3A state tournament — a year after the Seagulls qualified a school-record nine wrestlers — and in a year when Everett coach Brien Taylor expected to be rebuilding.

“We’re young and still making mistakes,” Taylor said, “We try to get good tournament experience, so they understand what it feels like and they’re not nervous.”

At the center of Everett’s success has been the senior Anstett.

“He’s been incredible … he’s our captain, our leader, a great kid that likes to do the right things,” Taylor said of his captain.

After placing seventh in the 189-pound weight class at last year’s state tournament, the senior decided it was in his and the team’s best interest if he bulked up to wrestle in the heavyweight division, a division that was successful for the Seagulls last season when brothers John and Brian Raby both qualified for the Mat Classic.

“I’m at 225 (pounds), so I’m a little light. We talked about that last year, about what would be best for me this year, in regards to where the competition would be,” Anstett said.

The senior looks forward to next week’s state tournament when he hopes to accomplish his ultimate goal — winning a state championship.

“My expectation for this season was to get into every tournament final. I wasn’t so much concerned about how I started the season, I just wanted to finish on top,” Anstett said.

Anstett is one of three Everett seniors on the squad. Kramer Burns (189) and Zach Husman (152) are the other two, both qualified for state.

Thirteen other Western Conference wrestlers will also vie for a state title next week at Mat Classic.

Joining Anstett as an individual champion from the Wesco were Everett’s Cary Irwin (152) and Arlington’s Chris Myers (160).

Myers defeated Everett’s Taylor Boyce for the second consecutive week. And for the second straight week the two wrestled into overtime.

Last week at the 3A sub-regionals Myers defeated Boyce in two overtimes. This time the two juniors wrestled into three overtimes before Myers was able to escape Boyce for the 1-0 decision.

“We battled it out,” Myers said.

Myers qualified third last season by finishing third at 152-pounds but worked hard in the offseason in preparation for the next year’s tournament.

“I worked really hard in the offseason. Last year I tore a meniscus so this year I worked hard to try to get my knee back in shape. It helps a lot,” Myers said.

Myers win allowed the Eagles to finish third, a place that didn’t surprise Myers or his coach Doug Byers.

“We have a fantastic team with lots of depth. Going into the year we didn’t have a lot of experience, but the team worked hard and we pushed each other,” Myers said.

“I’m very pleased. We had nine guys here today with six going to state,” Byers said.

Lynnwood had two wrestlers qualify for next week’s tournament and Shorecrest’s Cole Arbanasin (125) also qualified for next week’s tournament at the Tacoma Dome.

At Liberty H.S.

Team scores — 1. Sedro-Woolley 189.5, 2. Everett 169.5, 3. Arlington 129, 4. Mount Vernon 121.5, 5. Issaquah 107.5, 6. Ferndale 78.5, 7. Squalicum 78, 8. Mercer Island 63, 9. West Seattle 60, 10. Skyline 56, 11. Bellevue 54, 12. Interlake 50, 13. Mount Si 46, 14. Lynnwood 43, 15. Newport 37, 16. Liberty 28, 17. Shorecrest 26, 18. Sammamish 2, 19. Meadowdale 0.

Wesco state qualifiers

112 — 3. Forrest (E). 125 — 3. C. Arbanasin (SC). 135 — 2. Shortt (A), 4. Takashima (L). 140 — 4. Mangini (A). 152 — 1. Irwin (E), 3. Husman (E). 160 — 1. Myers (A), 2. Boyce (E), 3. Detschman (L). 171 — 2. Bird (E). 189 — 2. Kramer (E), 3. Anderson (A). 215 — 3. Perkins (A). 285 — 1. Anstett (E), 3. Dickerson (A).