MARYSVILLE — The Wesco North is still a big bully.
Flexing their muscles as they always do this time of year, grapplers from the Western Conference North Division put on a show during the two-day Class 4A Northwest District Wrestling Tournament at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.
Known as one of the state’s best (if not THE best) wrestling leagues in Washington, the Wesco North had the top three teams (Lake Stevens, Marysville-Pilchuck and Snohomish) in the tournament, which concluded Saturday. Twenty-one of the 28 individual finalists were from North squads and 12 North grapplers placed first.
Not surprisingly, top-ranked Lake Stevens (No. 1 in 4A according to WashingtonWrestlingReport.com) finished atop the heap in a competition that included 14 teams (eight Wesco North, six Wesco South). The three-time defending state-champion Vikings scored 399 points — 70 more than second-place Marysville-Pilchuck — and had four individual district champs: freshman Eric Soler (103 pounds), senior Josh Heinzer (112 pounds), junior Ryan Rodorigo (119 pounds) and sophomore Steven Walkley (135 pounds).
The district tourney was the first step in the wrestling postseason. The top eight individual finishers in each of the 14 weight divisions qualified for regionals next weekend in Auburn, where athletes from Wesco and the also-tough South Puget Sound League North Division will try to qualify for the Mat Classic state championships (Feb. 19-20 at the Tacoma Dome).
Lake Stevens will send 15 competitors to the regional tournament. That’s two fewer than Marysville-Pilchuck, which had a whopping 17 kids advance. Tenth-year M-P head coach Craig Iversen said until this season his teams had never sent more than 10 beyond districts.
“A great weekend for the Tomahawks. We’re pretty excited,” said Iversen, whose program hosted the 4A district tourney for the fourth straight year but will not host in 2011. Iversen was named Wesco 4A head coach of the year during Saturday’s finals.
M-P seniors Luke Shumaker (130 pounds), Brian Donaldson (140 pounds) and Daniel Hinckley (215 pounds) made the finals. Seeded No. 3 at 140, Donaldson beat No. 2 seed Colton Elliot of Oak Harbor 6-2 in the semifinals and defeated top-seeded Andrew King of Lake Stevens in the final, 7-5.
Hinckley, the 215 runnerup, was in M-P’s junior-varsity lineup before districts.
“It’s been pretty crazy. We weren’t expected to do this well,” said Donaldson, a first-time district champion.
The Tomahawks take a lot of pride, Donaldson said, in hosting the tournament, from the moment they roll the mats onto the gym floor until the last fan leaves and cleanup begins.
Another North squad, Snohomish, had a fine weekend as well. The Panthers had a meet-high seven finalists, all at different weights, and moved 11 top-eight finishers to the regional. Snohomish’s individual champs were senior Eric Kalmey (125 pounds), senior Luke Perry (145 pounds), senior Micah Morrill (160 pounds), junior Mark Morrill (171 pounds) and sophomore Luke Reinhard (215 pounds).
Micah Morrill, unbeaten this season, edged Lake Stevens’ Jacob Anderson 4-3 in the 160 final. The Snohomish standout upped his record to 33-0.
Snohomish’s Morrill brothers — senior Micah, junior Mark and sophomore Ammon — all advanced. Ammon Morrill (135 pounds) was a pleasant surprise, Panthers coach Rob Zabel said. The sophomore’s win-loss record was barely over .500 during the regular season but he upset No. 3 seed Lex Duncan of Cascade 1-0 to reach the semifinals, and Morrill eventually placed third.
“When Ammon decides to wrestle, he can beat anyone,” said Zabel.
A month ago, Stanwood’s Brad Gee didn’t know if he would have a chance to wrestle this season. Gee, a senior who has endured all sorts of injuries in his career, was out with a knee problem early in the season and more recently was academically ineligible, Stanwood coach Ray Mather said.
But everything came together in time for Gee, another North wrestler, to rule at districts. Despite not having much time to prepare, he fulfilled his potential and won the 189-pound title. Gee topped Mariner’s Garry Kroshko, the top seed, 3-2 in the final. Before that, Gee outlasted No. 2 seed Justin Grow of Lake Stevens, 5-3.
Gee showed a lot of pride and guts versus Grow, coach Mather said: “I didn’t think he had a gas tank like that right now. I tell you what, that should make (opponents) nervous.”
Note: Dan Mundell (Snohomish High) was named the Wesco 4A assistant coach of the year and Tony Stapleton (Centennial Middle School) was named the middle school coach of the year.
At Marysville-Pilchuck H.S.
Team scores: 1. Lake Stevens 399 points, 2. Marysville-Pilchuck 329, 3. Snohomish 284, 4. Kamiak 220.5, 5. Edmonds-Woodway 209.5, 6. Arlington 199, 7. Cascade 158, 8. Monroe 152, 9. Oak Harbor 132, 10. Mariner 131, 11. Stanwood 130, 12. Shorewood 72, 13. Jackson 71.5, Mountlake Terrace 37.
The top eight individuals in each weight division qualified for the Region 1 Wrestling Tournament (Feb. 12-13 at Auburn H.S.)
Championship matches
103-Soler (LS) dec. Bates-Mundell (Sno) 5-1; 112-Heinzer (LS) technical fall over Vulliet (E-W) 18-3; 119-Rodorigo (LS) pinned Leach (Shore) 3:37; 125-Kalmey (Sno) major dec. Hutchison (E-W) 15-6; 130-Deweese (E-W) major dec. Shumaker (M-P) 11-3; 135-Walkley (LS) pinned N. Regan (Kam) 2:56; 140-Donaldson (M-P) dec. King (LS) 7-5; 145-Perry (Sno) dec. Shortt (Arl) 15-12; 152-Coffman (Mar) dec. Ward (Arl) 8-2; 160-Micah Morrill (Sno) dec. Anderson (LS) 4-3; 171-Mark Morrill (Sno) injury default over P. St. Marie (Cas); 189-Gee (Stan) dec. Kroshko (Mar) 3-2; 215-Reinhard (Sno) pinned Hinckley (M-P) 4:41; 285-T. St. Marie (Cas) dec. Maybin (Sno) 3-1 OT.
Third/fourth-place matches
103-Peterson (LS) dec. Trimbur (OH) 7-0; 112-Reynolds (LS) dec. Krafft (Kam) 3-2; 119-Escalante (M-P) dec. Mendoza (M-P) 11-7; 125-Blevins (M-P) dec. Carlson (E-W) 1-0; 130-K. Johnson (LS) pinned Studley (Stan) 3:47; 135-A. Morrill (Sno) pinned Reeves (LS) 4:45; 140-Z. Duncan (Cas) dec. C. Elliot (OH) 7-6; 145-Stratton (OH) pinned Parker (Mar) 1:17; 152-DiMaggio (Mon) injury default over Linari (Kam); 160-McPherson (Arl) Eidsness (Stan) 9-8; 171-Belcher (LS) dec. Henderson (Arl) 7-4; 189-Grow (LS) dec. Carlton (M-P) 5-0; 215-Ingersoll (Mon) dec. Quinton (Arl) 5-1; 285-Torve (Arl) dec. Schlosser (LS) 5-4.
Fifth/sixth-place matches
103-Parker (Mar) dec. J. Heitzman (LS) 4-2; 112-Cardona (MP) dec. Yun (Swd) 7-1; 119-Cuzzetto (EW) dec. Regan (Kam) 7-6; 125-Amundson (Arl) dec. Hobbs (Swd) 4-2; 130-Johnson (Mon) dec. Koltsov (Mar) 11-2; 135-Duncan (Cas) dec. Sanchez (Jack) 6-5; 140-Strickland (Kam) dec. Weinert (Stan) 7-5; 145-Starkenburg (Kam) pinned Ho (Cas) 4:22; 152-Olliges (LS) pinned Haughian (MP) 2:24; 160-Herbert (MP) dec. Storino (EW) 3-2; 171-Loescher (OH) dec. Perez (EW) 6-0; 189-Kim (EW) dec. Reining (Cas) 11-10; 215-Johnson (LS) dec. Evans (Cas) 4-2; 285-Clarkson (Kam) pinned Martin (Mon) 3:14.
Seventh/eighth-place matches
103-Callahan (Mon) dec. Almachar (MP) 8-5; 112-Daurie (MP) dec. Bui (Mar) 8-6; 119-Quintero (MT) pinned Coffman (Sno) 2:41; 125-Lervold (MP) dec. Graika (Kam) 4-3; 130-Curnutt (Mon) dec. Haas (MP) 8-6; 135-Berg (Arl) pinned Lopez (Arl) 3:30; 140-Fuell (EW) dec. Badgley (Arl) 3-2; 145-Foster (Mon) dec. Bengen (MP) 4-0; 152-Brown (EW) pinned Doran (Sno) 2:46; 160-Thody (Sno) dec. Bentley (Kam) 10-3; 171-Elledge (Mon) dec. Mortera (Jack) 5-1; 189-Welsch (Kam) pinned Bossom (MP) 3:42; 215-Hatzialadis (Kam) won by injury default over Cloud (MT0; 285-Brown (EW) dec. Schumann (MP) 11-3.
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
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