At Edmonds-Woodway High School they call it the “holy grail.”
It’s an old, tattered, yellowing sheet of paper that former wrestling coach Mike Hanchett laminated a few years ago.
The paper contains virtually every adverse scenario a wrestler might run into. Down two points with 15 seconds remaining, what should he or she do? The answer is a lot easier if it’s been simulated in practice over and over again.
The “holy grail” is full of the collective wisdom of Hanchett and former Warriors coaches Mike Hess and Bryce Cook. It helped Ryan DeWeese reach the 140-pound final at last winter’s 4A state tournament under head coach Joe Trieu.
Check out five wrestlers to watch this season here.
This year the grail has been passed to Brian Alfi, who takes over as the Warriors head coach. Alfi is one of several new wrestling coaches in the area. Mariner, Lynnwood, Cascade and Arlington also have new coaches.
Alfi is a 2004 Edmonds-Woodway graduate who wrestled for the Warriors. He went off to college, but never left the E-W wrestling family.
Alfi attended Central Washington University in Ellensburg, but took winter quarters off to help with the E-W wrestling program. He is good friends with Trieu — Alfi was the best man in Trieu’s wedding three years ago — which should help smooth the Warriors’ transition to their third coach in three years.
“Overall I’m pretty lucky to be taking over at Edmonds,” Alfi said. “We took eighth in state last year. We have some very talented kids. It’s a pretty big family. There’s a lot of alumni that come and watch matches. There’s a lot of alumni that donate to the program. It’s a pretty special program.”
At Cascade, Brooklyn Obregon seems like a logical fit. He headed the USA Everett youth wrestling program out of Cascade High School the past three years, so he’s familiar with the surroundings and many of the athletes.
Obregon attended Blair Academy in New Jersey, considered by some to be the top high school wrestling program in the country. When he moved to the Northwest, Obregon spent six years coaching in the Lake Stevens youth program, where he frequently worked with handicapped wrestlers.
“If they are having a good time and enjoying themselves, then they should be out there,” Obregon said. “Winning isn’t the most important thing. If you give them the chance to do something they want to do, that’s a great thing.”
Obregon knows the history and tradition of Cascade and hopes to bring some of the luster back to the Bruins’ trophy case.
“I thought that it wouldn’t take long to be able to hopefully turn the program around and to be able to start to do well like (the program) did in the past,” he said.
It’s been a challenge going from coaching youth wrestlers to high schoolers, but Obregon credits his No. 1 assistant coach, Mike Wilson, with helping make a smooth transition.
“Mike Wilson has been a godsend,” Obregon said. “He has really made things (easier). He’s been an incredible help, without a doubt.”
Lynnwood’s new coach, Clint Karlsen, grew up wrestling in the Police Athletic League in New York City before moving to Las Vegas for high school, where he took second in the state his senior year. After serving in the Army, he moved to the Northwest in 2008 and decided to become a teacher. He coached the past two years at Roosevelt High School in Seattle. He moved to Lynnwood earlier this year and signed on as the Royals’ head coach just two weeks prior to the start of practice — after nearly starting the season as an assistant at Juanita.
“I’m excited,” Karlsen said. “I’m real privileged to be coaching high school wrestling. Its fun and exciting watching kids grow.”
Despite the late start Karlsen said he thinks the Royals program is in great shape.
“We have close to 14 freshman,” he said. “That’s just a bright future for us with the real talent that we have if we can get them in the right mixture. The team’s got nowhere to go but forward.”
Karlsen wouldn’t have the opportunity to coach at Lynnwood if Mariner’s new coach, Carl Wilkins, didn’t make a logical move. Wilkins, who coached at Lynnwood the past seven years, accepted the head job at Mariner, where he’s employed as a teacher.
Wilkins coached previously at Mariner in 1999-2000.
“I’m just looking forward to helping them get better and helping Mariner wrestling to establish itself again,” Wilkins said.
Wilkins said he thinks it will take some time for the Marauders to find their lineup, but once they do, the team should take off.
“We’re going to be in the middle of things,” Wilkins said. “We are going to be competitive by the end of the season.”
The Arlington wrestling program is getting a boost with the unretirement of two longtime coaches, Rick Iversen and Barry Knott. The two coaches both stepped down in 1998. Iversen coached the Western Washington University and Marysville Pilchuck wrestling teams before retiring. Iversen’s son Craig took over at MP after Rick left.
As for Knott, he was the head wrestling coach for three schools over 25 years: Nathan Hale, Lake Washington and Bellarmine. He won seven straight Metro League titles between 1984-1990.
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