SNOHOMISH — The Lake Stevens boys wrestling team has had large shoes to fill since their fourth-place finish at the state tournament last year. The new-look Vikings haven’t seemed to notice the pressure, as they are off to a 4-0 start in Wesco 4A (4-0 overall) after a 43-30 win over Glacier Peak on Tuesday night.
Glacier Peak, a 10th-place state finisher last season, gave the defending league champs all they could handle in the league dual, as the rivals split the first six bouts. The meet was a dead heat near the halfway point, with Lake Stevens trailing 18-17 before winning three straight bouts to pull away — including a nail-biting 14-13 win for 138-pounder Oliver Paisley over Alex Ibarra.
From there, Asher Heist’s first-period pin in the 175-pound bout against Oliver Martinez was the final blow, as the Vikings led 40-30 with one match left.
But on the evening, GP out-pinned the Vikings 5-3, as Lake Stevens won by points and decisions in the remaining six bouts. Lake Stevens head coach Derek Lopez didn’t believe he saw his team wrestle to their full potential but was satisfied with the effort in which they closed their matches.
“We’re really just focusing on the things we can control,” Lopez said. “We’re gonna be the underdog in most of our matches, but if we can just not worry about who we’re wrestling, then that’s gonna take us a long way.”
Indeed, this isn’t the same team that saw six wrestlers place at Mat Classic XXXV last year, as just one of those Vikings is a returner this season in Samuel Irizarry — who has been out due to injury.
Lopez’s theory is that hard wrestling and team chemistry win meets.
“We don’t have a lot of superstars on the team, but what we have is a group of kids that really love each other,” Lopez said. “We have a lot of mid-tier guys who are just going to go hard and see what happens.”
Lake Stevens 157-pound wrestler Jarrell David qualified for last year’s state tournament in the 175-pound category but was not among the school’s placers. After dropping to 157 pounds this season, David has looked strong — he won his Tuesday night matchup with Preston Mitchell on points 10-0. With 22 Vikings making it to last year’s Mat Classic (seven of whom were alternates), David believes Lake Stevens can send even more of their roster to state this year under the expanded format.
“I’m hoping this year it’s going to be all 28 of us,” David said. “Of course we’re all trying to jump and claw at that opportunity.”
For the Grizzlies, falling to Lake Stevens on their home turf was a bitter pill to swallow. The loss dropped Glacier Peak to 2-2 overall and in league meets, putting the Wesco title out of reach with one league dual remaining. Senior star and defending state champ in the 285-pound division Connor Aney earned one of the Grizzlies’ five pins early on.
“This one stings a little,” Aney said. “A couple could have gone our way, sad it didn’t. But it’s whatever, we’ll see them again at districts and hopefully we’ll get ‘em.”
Aney’s chances of repeating at state in his division are looking healthy, as he worked his way to a pin over 2024 state qualifier Mikey Lawrence in the second round. But 165-pound wrestler Colin Edmonds has a chance to bring home his own hardware, as the 2024 sixth-place finisher in the 157-pound bracket is 38-3 this season and won his match against Jack Aichele in under a minute.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m ranked first, or not at all, I’m still the same wrestler,” Edmonds said. “I’ve got one shot left, gotta take advantage of it. (Before this season) I knew I had the potential to do what I’ve been doing this year.”
While Edmonds doesn’t know what weight he’ll compete at in the postseason yet, he, along with the Grizzlies, will be trying to improve on their 10th-place finish at state last year.
“We have another expectation to live up to, which is to get as many guys to state,” Aney said. “That’s always been a goal of (head coach Bryan Mossburg) and mine.”
Glacier Peak will be back in league dual action on Jan. 28 when they host Jackson, while Lake Stevens will be right back to work at Arlington on Thursday night.
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Meet summary
106—Talon Lemke (L) pinned Miguel Bajet, 1:06; 113—Kallel Dusenberry (G) pinned Isley Chu, 1:14; 120—Brody Hanson (L) tech. fall Dillon Bonnar, 16-1; 126—Garrett Taylor (G) pinned Gavin Ketchum, 4:00; 132—Jake Hurley (L) pinned Jake Allison, 4:28; 138—Oliver Paisley (L) dec. Alex Ibarra, 14-13; 144—Alessandro Rush (L) maj. dec. Tommy Weiss, 10-2; 150—Callan Childs (G) pinned Nacho Arellano, 2:29; 157—Jarrell David (L) maj. dec. Preston Mitchell, 10-0; 165—Colin Edmonds (G) pinned Jack Aichele, 1:06; 175—Asher Heist (L) pinned Oliver Martinez, 1:04; 190—Cheyzen Quevedo (L) dec. Max Bridges, 10-6; 215—Devyn Zurel (L) pinned Jaden Ramirez, 1:57; 285—Connor Aney (G) pinned Mikey Lawrence, :55.
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