Kamiak grapplers beat Mariner, keep title hopes alive
Published 11:12 pm Tuesday, January 27, 2009
EVERETT — The Kamiak High School wrestling team didn’t just open the door to the possibility of a three-way Wesco South title on Tuesday night; the Knights kicked it down.
Kamiak (13-4 overall, 7-1 in conference) won the first nine bouts of Tuesday night’s dual meet against co-conference leader Mariner, cruising to a 50-14 victory. Kamiak and Mariner (8-3, 7-1) are now tied for second place, meaning a Marauders win over unbeaten Edmonds-Woodway on Thursday night could create a three-team conference championship.
“Our goal coming into the year was to repeat as Wesco South champions,” Kamiak coach Tracy Regan said. “Edmonds-Woodway took it to us a couple weeks ago, but we came back and kept fighting. Now we need help from our friends from Mariner.”
While the Marauders would like nothing more than to help Kamiak out, Mariner coach Otto Olson said after Tuesday’s one-sided affair that his team doesn’t have the ammunition to beat E-W on Thursday.
“There’s really no chance,” Olson said after his Marauders lost 11 of the 14 bouts on Tuesday night. “We’re too young.”
Mariner looked like anything but a championship team on Tuesday. The Marauders got thoroughly outclassed, falling behind 38-0 while seeing one wrestler get penalized for throwing an elbow and a second get docked a team point for an unsportsmanlike penalty after getting pinned.
Kamiak’s smaller weights methodically went through its opponents one by one. Joe Krafft (103 pounds), Marco Price (112), Braedon Graika (119), Colton Kusilek (125), Dan Semple (130), Bryton Rein (135) and John Linari (140) earned decisions en route to a 26-0 lead through seven matches. Anthony Jacobson (145) and Nate Regan (152) strung together back-to-back pins to clinch the dual meet victory with five weight classes to go.
“There was definitely a lot of pressure on me, knowing we could win with (a victory),” said Nate Regan, who ran his record to 22-1 this season with Tuesday’s first-period pin. “I love having that pressure on me. It’s an adrenaline rush. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Mariner had some success in the upper weights, ending the string of losses when 160-pounder Garion Nelson earned a pin. Teammate Bernard Do followed with a pin of his own, but they came far too late.
“It feels good,” Regan said of the win. “It was quite devastating when we lost to Edmonds-Woodway a couple weeks ago. But we have a chance now. That’s all we wanted, and it showed on the scoreboard how bad we wanted it.”
It was apparent from the outset that Tuesday was not going to be Mariner’s kind of evening. Due to a scheduling conflict — the match was originally planned for early in the conference season but got pushed back because of the expected importance — the Marauders had to host the match at Explorer Middle School while the boys basketball team played at Mariner High. Early in the match, the scoreboard temporarily went dark. Shortly thereafter, the Marauders got knocked out.
“It wasn’t as close as I wanted, but Kamiak wrestled tough,” Olson said. “They deserved to win tonight. They won all the close ones and got the pins when they needed them.”
At Mariner H.S.
103: Joe Krafft (K) d. Dallas Parker; 112: Marco Price (K) d. Johnathan Kim, 9-7 (OT); 119: Braedon Graika (K) d. Chris Venskus, 8-3; 125: Colton Kusilek (K) d. Nicolay Koltsov, 12-1; 130: Dan Semple (K) d. Jesse Johnson, 9-8; 135: Bryton Rein (K) d. Michael Boyd, 9-0; 140: John Linari (K) d. Joseph Venskus, 9-3; 145: Anthony Jacobson (K) pinned Austin Parker, 2:22; 152: Nate Regan (K) pinned Alex Coffman, 1:33; 160: Garion Nelson (M) pinned Scott Pingly, 2:48; 171: Bernard Do (M) pinned Ian Davidson, 3:48; 189: Josh Marson (K) pinned Adam Nelson, 1:44; 215: Gary Kroshoko (M) d. Kasey Alusi, 7-6; 275: Adam Clarkson (K) pinned T.J. Ratuniyouravu, 3:07. Records: Kamiak 7-1 league, 9-2 overall. Mariner 7-1, 8-3, 7-1.
