SNOHOMISH — Even Shorewood wrestling coach Derek Norton admitted he was surprised. It’s not that he didn’t think his team was good, he just didn’t know it was this good.
But a week after finishing sixth at the District 1 meet, the Thunderbirds qualified six wrestlers for the state meet
and finished a shocking second in the team standings at the Class 3A Region 1 tournament Saturday at Glacier Peak High School.
It was by far the best performance by a Shorewood wrestling team at a regional meet, Norton said.
“Guys really pulled through today,” Norton said. “The most we’ve ever qualified for state before is three, so to get six, I didn’t expect that. I couldn’t be more pleased for these guys.”
Shorewood finished with 113 points, trailing only regional champion Mercer Island, which had 130. The Thunderbirds finished ahead of all five teams who placed ahead of them at the district meet, including Everett, which finished fifth in the regional, qualifying four for Mat Classic, which will be held Friday and Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.
In all, Wesco qualified 24 wrestlers for the state meet, including five regional champions. Only Mercer Island qualified as many as Shorewood. The Thunderbirds were led by regional champions Matthew Floresca at 112 pounds and Brandon Leach at 119.
“There was definitely more pressure than I’m used to,” said Floresca, a freshman whose brother Kyle also qualified for state at 135. “Before the match, I had the right mental approach, so I’m where I thought I’d be.”
Leach, a senior who finished second at the regional last year and was the only Shorewood state qualifier — finishing eighth — said he’s excited to have teammates join him this year.
“Our goal was to get three or four to state, so this is amazing,” Leach said. “It feels great. I’m used to being one of the only people to get this far, so now I really feel like I’m part of something big.”
Norton said it’s helped that Shorewood dropped from Class 4A to 3A this year, making it one of the bigger schools at its classification rather than one of the smallest.
“It’s given us a chance to be more competitive,” Norton said. “At 4A, we were running into teams like Marysville that has four JV guys at each weight. This has been a more even playing field for us and obviously it’s paying dividends.”
Floresca got a pin and an easy decision to reach the final, where he handled Lynnwood’s Alex Basabe 7-2. Leach won by forfeit in the first round and pinned Ferndale’s Isaac Robison in 35 seconds in the semis before defeating Everett’s Jesse Lopez 8-2 in the final.
“I’m happy I won but you always feel like you can do better,” Leach said. “But I’m more prepared this year and definitely more confident.”
Glacier Peak also had a pair of champions in senior Paul Kim at 125 and senior Josh St. Marie at 130. Kim won his final when Lake Washington’s Joel Navas had to default due to injury, while St. Marie was dominant, getting two pins and then a 15-6 decision over Bellevue’s Jun Park in the final. That helped the Grizzlies finish sixth, one spot behind Everett, which came into the meet ranked as one of the top teams in 3A but came away somewhat disappointed. One Seagull who did have a smile was junior Connor Boyce, who made up for a disappointing 2010 regional with a first-place finish at 160 pounds. Boyce got sick the night before last year’s regional, which he said cost him a chance to achieve a long-time goal of reaching the state meet.
“I’m so happy,” the junior said. “I used to watch my brothers (Justin and Taylor) when they’d get to state and I always wanted to do that, to be a part of the Walk of Champions, and it was so disappointing that I got sick at the wrong time.”
Boyce got pins in his first two matches before holding off Glacier Peak’s Sean Elledge in the final 7-5.
Perhaps the only people more thrilled to reach state than Boyce were the large Shorewood contingent who, like Boyce, spent last year watching state from the stands but this year will be on center stage.
“This is just huge,” Floresca said. “We had high hopes and this just surpassed everything.”
“Our seniors had a great showing and really pulled us through,” Norton added. “It’s a great stepping off point but we’re not satisfied. Now we see what we’re capable of.”
At Glacier Peak H.S.
Wesco state qualifiers
103—2. Corey Trimbur (Oak Harbor), 3. Alex Lee (Shorewood); 112—1. Matthew Floresca (Shorewood), 2. Alex Basabe (Lynnwood), 3. Daniel Yun (Shorewood), 4. Matthew Calkins (Lynnwood); 119—1. Brandon Leach (Shorewood), 2. Jesse Lopez (Everett), 3. Cody Fakkema (Oak Harbor); 125—1. Paul Kim (Glacier Peak), 4. Zack Calkins (Lynnwood); 130—1. Josh St. Marie (Glacier Peak); 135—3. Kyle Floresca (Shorewood); 140—3. Joel Palabrica (Everett), 4. Timmy Douglass (Glacier Peak); 145—2. Brandon Stratton (Oak Harbor); 152—4. Drew Arbanasin (Shorecrest); 160—1. Connor Boyce (Everett), 2. Sean Elledge (Glacier Peak); 171—4. Taylor Call (Mountlake Terrace); 189—2. Brayden Jacobson (Everett), 3. Nick Ulke (Lynnwood), 4. Joel Smith (Shorewood); 285—2. Ian Bolstad (Shorecrest).
Team Scores
1. Mercer Island 130, 2. Shorewood 113, 3. Sedro-Woolley 109, 4. Mount Vernon 98, 5. Everett 95, 6. Glacier Peak 79.5, 7. Oak Harbor 72.5, 8. Ferndale 72, 9. Lynnwood 68, 10. Lake Washington 67, 11. Bellevue 52, 12. Mt. Si 52, 13. Liberty (Issaquah) 45, 14. Juanita 40, 15. Shorecrest 39, 16. Mountlake Terrace 20, 17. Meadowdale 13, 18. Sammamish 0.
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