After markets crashed and stocks fell last year, Lake Stevens High School wrestling coach Brent Barnes had more concerns than just his 401K. He wanted to make sure that despite the weak economy his Vikings could still compete against top competition.
The year before, Lake Stevens traveled to the prestigious Final Four of High School Wrestling in Lehigh Valley, Pa., squaring off against several top-ranked programs, including national powerhouse Blair Academy. Barnes and the rest of the coaching staff wanted to make sure Lake Stevens still faced big-time competition, even if parents no longer had $500 to spend on a plane ticket to Pennsylvania or California.
“We’ve traveled a lot (in the past decade),” Barnes said. “We’ve run into a lot of teams in California. … They know the level that our program’s at. We have good wrestling in our state. The downside is that we’re isolated, in the upper corner of the (country).”
The answer to finding top-notch competition without incurring huge travel costs was to revive the Viking Invitational, a 12-team tournament that Lake Stevens hosts today and Wednesday at Cavelero Mid-High School.
In attendance will be some of the top talent Washington wrestling has to offer. Among the teams scheduled to take part are Tahoma (ranked No. 2 in the Washington Wrestling Report’s Class 4A preseason rankings), University High School of Spokane (No. 3), Yelm (No. 1 in Class 3A), Orting (No. 1 in 1A), Blaine (No. 5 in 2A) and Wesco schools Arlington and Edmonds-Woodway.
But Lake Stevens doesn’t want the Viking Invitational — which was first held in the mid-1970s, and discontinued around 2000 when Lake Stevens began to travel out of state more — to be a showcase just for Washington wrestling.
Hermiston High School, Oregon’s 2009 5A state champion, is participating, and Las Vegas High School, the 2009 4A runner-up in Nevada, and Skyview, the 2009 2A state runner-up in Montana, planned to attend before financial issues and red tape got in the way.
Barnes said Lake Stevens officials want to make it as easy as possible for schools from out of state to travel to the tournament, which will be held again next year. Assistant coach Andy Knutson said Lake Stevens offered to help reduce travel costs by putting up coaches in hotels and arranging for visiting wrestlers to stay with local families.
“In the past we’d done a lot of traveling back east,” said Knutson, who has been with the program for 15 years. “We wanted to attract those kinds of teams to come to us.
“We only invite certain teams,” he added. “Only teams we think are going to compete at a high level. … The truth is we want to give our kids the best chance to get better, and give them the best competition possible.”
If any school is in a position to host such a tournament, it’s Lake Stevens.
The three-time defending 4A state champion Vikings are ranked No, 1 in the state in Class 4A and are favored to win yet another state title. Last year, the Vikings set a Class 4A state record with 169 team points. This year, seven Lake Stevens wrestlers are ranked in the top 10 in the state in their weight classes by Washington Wrestling Report — Eric Soler (103 pounds), two-time state champion Josh Heinzer (112), Ryan Rodorigo (119), Steven Walkley (135), Josh Villani (152), Jake Anderson (160) and Justin Grow (189).
Earlier this month, Lake Stevens placed first at the prestigious Tri-State Tournament in Idaho, edging more than 50 high schools from Washington, Idaho and Montana. University placed second at Tri-State and Tahoma third, an extremely impressive showing by the Washington schools.
All three will be squaring off again at the Viking Invitational.
“They come because they want to (measure up),” Barnes said. “A team like U-High, they want to see us as much as possible to see how close they are. They probably think they have a great shot. … Tahoma, they have a great shot too. That’s a definite pull, when you can bring in teams like that.”
The two-day event consists of a series of dual meets today that are designed to get every wrestler, even inexperienced ones, mat time. The second day will be a traditional tournament competition, with individual and team champions crowned.
“It’s a great opportunity to showcase the talent in our area,” Barnes said. “(And) it will be good for our fans to come out to watch.”
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