Jensen finishes second in South

SHORELINE — It’s hard to imagine two more evenly-matched wrestlers than Shorewood’s Brian Jensen and Edmonds-Woodway’s Steven Korbein.

The juniors split a pair of low-scoring scuffles this season, with each recording a three-point victory.

But Korbein seized a slight edge in the budding rivalry by saving his narrow win for last week’s Western Conference 4A South Division sub-regional tournament.

Avenging an 8-5 loss during the dual meet season, Korbein pulled out a 5-2 decision over Jensen in the 135-pound championship match Feb. 7 at Shorewood High School.

“I didn’t wrestle my best today and he was on,” Jensen said. “I figured I could get the takedowns because he’s not very good on his feet, but unfortunately I got on the bottom too much.”

All the offense Korbein needed was two reversals in the first two rounds. Jensen managed to get to his feet more than once, but couldn’t break Korbein’s tight hold around his waist.

“(Korbein) was going for a cradle and Brian wasn’t reacting to it very well. He knew what he had to do and it wasn’t there,” Shorewood coach Arnie Moreno said.

“Sometimes in a long tournament your mind gets a little foggy. You get a little burned out. He looked flat.”

Korbein acknowledged he drew motivation from the earlier defeat and felt he was better conditioned for the rematch.

“After losing to Jensen in the regular season I wanted to come back and take the tournament,” Korbein said. “It was a real close decision in our dual meet. Ever since then I’ve been gunning to come back and take it.”

Jensen received a first-round bye, then outlasted Everett’s Dustin Zyph 18-14 and Kamiak’s Lance Bennett 14-11 to reach the finals.

“He had a good tournament, he just didn’t have his best match at the end,” Moreno said. “I don’t know if it was the duration of the day, or if he didn’t prepare himself enough mentally. It just wasn’t there for him.”

By finishing in the top three, Jensen clinched his third straight regional berth. He takes a 20-8 record with 10 pins into this weekend’s Region I tournament at Tahoma High School.

“I got fourth (at sub-regionals) the past two years, so second place is pretty good,” said Jensen, who has yet to win a match at regionals.

Jensen was Shorewood’s only finalist, but two other Thunderbirds advanced to third/fourth place matches.

By finishing fourth, junior Jeremy Passi and sophomore Daniel Nelson had to wrestle pigtail matches against the fifth-place finishers from the Wesco North sub-regional on Tuesday to decide the final regional berths.

Snohomish senior Jordan Gere topped Passi 12-0 to earn the final regional berth at 152 pounds.

“I’m proud of how far he went,” Moreno said. “Jeremy’s all technique. He’s not the quickest guy and he doesn’t have natural ability like some guys, but he’s a hard worker. When he gets out on the mat he just never gives up. He fought hard.”

Marysville-Pilchuck junior Kenney Alexander pinned Nelson in the first round of their 215-pound pigtail match, ending Nelson’s season.

As a freshman, Nelson won just two matches. This year he won 15 in a weight class loaded with upperclassmen.

“It’s a huge turnaround,” Moreno said. “Dan’s a hard worker at practice and he listens. We don’t really have to motivate him. He does it himself.

“With his ability, next year he has a good shot at a 215 title. There’s a lot of seniors graduating and he’s coming back.”

The surprise of the two-day tournament for Shorewood was the fifth-place showing of sophomore Mitch Zemenak (145).

Zemenak topped Jackson’s Joe Townsend 7-1 for his fourth and final victory. He also scored a 16-0 technical fall and a second-round pin in the consolation bracket.

“He was within one turn, one switch, one move of winning a couple of tough matches and he would have been in the top four,” Moreno said. “Mitch is a guy to watch in the future. He’s got huge natural ability and confidence in himself. He’s tough mentally and physically.

“We’ve been waiting for him to do that all season. Today was a breakout for him. He knows he could have done better. But he gave everybody, including the seeded wrestlers, all they could handle.”

Freshman Michael Yun (103) was Shorewood’s only other medal-winner. He dropped a 6-4 decision to Mountlake Terrace’s Jon Floresca in a fifth/sixth place match.

Still feeling the effects of a severely sprained rotator cuff, senior Colin Ferris (140) was unable to earn a return trip to regionals.

“We rested him up and held him out a week and a half,” Moreno said. “We did everything our trainer wanted us to do. He came back and his strength wasn’t there.”

Everett wrestlers placed first in eight of the 14 weight classes to pace the Seagulls to a third consecutive team championship with 401.5 points.

Kamiak (298) finished a distant second, followed by Mariner (290), Mountlake Terrace (186), Jackson (149.5), Edmonds-Woodway (130.5) and Shorewood (89.5).

Though the T-birds fielded one of the league’s youngest teams, Moreno noted that his roster was the largest it’s been in several seasons.

“The future’s looking real good,” Moreno said. “It’s been a long, hard road going on five years. But things are really beginning to build from the bottom. We didn’t have a strong tradition to begin with, but we’re getting there.”