Kamiak dominates Mariner, remains master of Wesco South

Published 11:30 pm Tuesday, January 26, 2010

MUKILTEO — He was exhausted and fueled by Red Bull, but Adam Clarkson still generated enough oomph to earn another huge victory. So did his team.

One of the Kamiak High School wrestling team’s 10 seniors who were honored on senior night, Clarkson fell behind in his heavyweight match on Tuesday but rallied for a win by pin versus Mariner’s Dean Bakeberg in the final period.

Clarkson’s comeback was one of many highlights for Kamiak, which earned at least a share of the Western Conference South Division dual meet championship by routing the Marauders 51-16 in the annual Mukilteo School District rivalry clash.

Coming off an intense victory over Edmonds-Woodway on Monday night, Kamiak (8-0 Wesco South) dug deep to knock off Mariner (7-1), which was previously unbeaten in division duals. Clarkson earned a pin in both crucial meets.

“It’s a lot of stress — not a lot of sleep the night before (and) running on adrenaline and caffeine,” Clarkson said of preparing for the brutal back-to-back tests.

Clarkson (285 pounds), Nate Regan (140 pounds), Mark Strickland (145 pounds) and Austin Bentley (160 pounds) all earned pins for Kamiak, which led 21-16 through eight bouts. The Knights turned it on after that, outscoring Mariner 30-0.

“I thought we wrestled a little bit flat tonight,” Kamiak head coach Tracy Regan said. “But Mariner wrestled really tough. They wrestled the entire period and they wrestled all six minutes.”

“We got a couple of pins toward the end there,” coach Regan said, “but for awhile it was a pretty low-scoring match.”

This is the final week of division meets, with district tournaments coming up in two weekends. Kamiak and Mariner came into Tuesday’s battle tied for first place in the South. On Thursday, Mariner finishes its division schedule at E-W (7-1) while Kamiak’s South finale is at Meadowdale (5-3).

Meadowdale’s best wrestlers “are right where our strong guys are at. They’re strong up the middle and we’ve got our horses up the middle,” coach Regan said. “I know there’s going to be some great matchups and you never know what’s going to happen.”

The same can be said of the Kamiak-Mariner rivalry. Every season fans can count on a noisy gym and plenty of thrilling matches. But how about Otto Olson roaming the sideline in a purple Knights shirt?

Formerly Mariner’s head coach, Olson is now a first-year Kamiak assistant head coach. Olson, who guided Mariner to three league titles in six seasons before resigning in August, said it was strange trying to coach against Mariner kids he worked with for so many years.

“It was rough, man. I just sat back and watched. I couldn’t get too involved,” said Olson, who hugged several Marauders after the meet ended.

“It’s weird going to battle without Olson” on Mariner’s side, first-year Mariner head coach Matt Krier said before the meet started.

Despite its impressive record, Mariner has had a rough season, Krier said. Due to numerous factors (injuries, kids quitting the team, disciplinary action, ineligibility), Mariner has just 18 kids remaining in its entire program. Mariner started the season with about 45 wrestlers, Krier said. Six of the grapplers who are gone were varsity starters when the season began.

Even so, Kamiak’s Clarkson admired the Marauders’ effort.

“We always look forward to Mariner — a good fight,” Clarkson said. “It’s always a battle.”

At Kamiak H.S.

189-Kroshko (M) major dec. Welsh 10-2; 215-Brinkley (K) won by forfeit; 285-Clarkson (K) pinned Bakeberg 4:50; 103-D. Parker (M) dec. Heitzman 12-5; 112-Singh (M) won by forfeit; 119-Z. Regan (K) major dec. Bui 10-2; 125-Graika (K) technical fall over C. Venskus 15-0; 130-Johnson (M) dec. Kuenzi 10-5; 135-Engblom (K) dec. Koltsov 9-2; 140-N. Regan (K) pinned J. Venskus 0:57; 145-Strickland (K) pinned A. Parker 3:50; 152-Linari (K) dec. Coffman 5-4; 160-Bentley (K) pinned Nelson 1:38; 171-Hall (K) won by forfeit. Records-Mariner 7-1 in division, 8-3 overall. Kamiak 8-0, 10-1.

Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.