Graham provides Mariner inspiration

SHORELINE – Early in matches, Alex Graham’s asthma is merely a nuisance, a disadvantage that the Mariner High junior is used to battling.

But when Period 3 ended in a tie and a sudden-death overtime session loomed in Graham’s second match Friday night, his lungs felt ready to burst, his body on the verge of collapse.

“I was at my last ounce of breath, my last ounce of strength,” the 145-pound wrestler said later.

But somehow Graham shrugged off near-suffocation and held on long enough to earn a two-point takedown in OT for a 12-10 decision during a quarterfinal match on the first day of the Class 4A Western Conference South Division tournament at Shorewood High.

Graham, previously a junior varsity competitor who didn’t even wrestle last season, was the most surprising of the Mariner Marauders’ meet-leading 12 semifinalists. Graham and Mariner coach Otto Olson both called Graham’s victory the biggest of his life. “He’s just a really, really strong kid,” Olson said.

And Mariner, the undefeated regular-season Wesco South dual-meet champion, is certainly a powerful team. The Marauders (143 points) took the early lead in the race for the team championship, followed closely by the Everett Seagulls (136) and the Kamiak Knights (124.5).

Following today’s matches, the top five wrestlers in each weight class advance to the 4A regional meet Feb. 10-11 at Jackson High. Today’s action kicks off at 10 a.m., with the consolation finals scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. and the championship finals set to begin at 5:15 p.m.

“It’s gonna be a barnburner basically to the end of the tournament,” said Everett coach Brien Elliott, whose team has 11 semifinalists, including two at 215 (senior Justin Boyce and junior Parker Burns).

Mariner had a 9-0 league dual-meet record and was 10-0 overall during the regular season, but Coach Olson seemed nervous early Friday evening as he frequently checked for updated team standings at the scorer’s table. Everett shot to a 46-36 lead over the Marauders late in the first round of matches, but quarterfinal pins by Woo Song Do (103), Justin Hammond (112), Karl Bush (119), Austin Kintner (140), Odgarig Nyamachi (160) and Mohammad Mustafa (189) got Mariner back on track.

Kintner and Mustafa, favored to win championships today, had first-round byes and zoomed to quick quarterfinal pins. Kintner, ranked No. 12 in the state among all classifications by washingtonwrestlingreport.com, pinned his opponent in 12 seconds. Mustafa, last year’s divisional champ at 171 and ranked No. 3 at 189, needed slightly longer – 17 seconds – for his pin.

At Shorewood H.S.

Team standings after first session (final session is today)-1. Mariner 143, 2. Everett 136, 3. Kamiak 124.5, 4. Jackson 86.5, 5. Edmonds-Woodway 76, 6. Mountlake Terrace 73, 7. Shorewood 60, 8. Meadowdale 41.

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