E-W sophomore wins title

MARYSVILLE

For just a moment, Mountlake Terrace’s Casey Finnicum became a little concerned.

Finnicum was ahead of Oak Harbor’s Tyler Elliot in the 171-pound finals at the Class 4A Northwest District wrestling tournament when the Hawks junior found himself on his back fighting a pin attempt.

“I kind of got caught in a move,” Finnicum said, “and put on my back. … For a second, I was ‘Ohhhh, got to get up.’”

Finnicum successful countered Elliot’s move and soon resumed control of the match. He scored the last three points of the match to win a 14-8 decision Feb. 3 at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.

The Mountlake Terrace standout moves on to Saturday’s regional tournament at Snohomish High School.

Finnicum almost ended the match early with a first-round pin but Elliot managed to work his way free.

“I got him on his back,” Finnicum said. “I was surprised myself. He fought off his back real tough. He’s a tough kid. Usually when I put people on their back I can usually hold them down pretty good and get a pin, but he fought off pretty good.”

Finnicum cruised through the first four rounds with four straight pins.

“I was trying to get on the mat and get off as fast I can and rest up,” he said.

The tough match in the finals was good for Finnicum, said Mountlake Terrace coach Kanoe Vierra.

“It’s good to have tough matches, especially at this level going into the regional tournament,” Vierra said. “They’re only going to get tougher.”

Finnicum agreed.

“It’s a good one to start me on a roll for next weekend,” Finnicum said.

The other Edmonds District wrestler to win a title was Edmonds-Woodway’s Rudy Johanson, who defeated Shorewood’s Tim Hester 15-9 in the 189 finals.

Johanson fell behind 2-0 early in the first period but then rallied to take a 3-2 lead. He never surrendered the lead the rest of the match. Hester pinned Johanson during the regular season.

“I felt good. I’ve been practicing a lot of different moves because last time he beat me,” said Johanson, a transfer student from Alaska. “I’ve just been working hard.”

Johanson also recorded four straight pins en route to the finals.

Edmonds-Woodway coach Mike Hanchett said that Johanson has been a great addition to the team.

“He did a great job of adjusting to Tim, who is a very good wrestler,” Hanchett said. “We knew it was going to be a really, really, really tough match and it could have gone either way.”

The two could face off again at regionals or at the state tournament as Hanchett hopes.

“Hopefully they’ll meet up in the state finals,” he said. “That would be ideal for both of them. Let them decide the tiebreaker in that one.”

Mountlake Terrace’s Jon Floresca advanced to the 119 finals where he lost a 5-0 decision to Monroe’s Sam Ottow. Floresca was the No. 3 seed coming into the tournament. The Mountlake Terrace senior rallied from a 2-0 deficit to edge Mariner’s Don Tiongco 4-2 in overtime in the semifinals. Floresca lost to Tiongco during the regular season.

Edmonds-Woodway moved three other individuals on to regionals. Adrian Siers took third place at 152, while Matthew Toma and David Alfi both took fourth at 135 and 140, respectively. The Warriors ended up taking eighth overall in the team competition. Lake Stevens easily captured the team championship.

“I was very pleased with the entire team all the way to the youngest kids to the seniors,” Hanchett said. “Eighth place overall, I think, is very respectable. It was a good finish.”

Class 3A Northwest District tournament

Lynnwood’s Tanner Detschman took first place in the 152-pound finals at the Class 3A Northwest District championships Feb. 3 at Sedro-Woolley High School.

Teammate Cody Mason placed second at 119 for the Royals, which finished eighth overall.

Meadowdale’s Wes Garton was second at 215. Also advancing to regionals were Lynnwood’s Anthony Henderson (fourth at 103), Lynnwood’s Blake Forrest (third at 152), Meadowdale’s Lane Jennings (third at 160) and Meadowdale’s Nick Montanari (fourth at 171).