Scots send five wrestlers to Shoreline Invitational finals

SHORELINE — David Rieben and Jacob Cartwright have squared off so many times, they’ve practically memorized one another’s tricks and tendencies.

The Shorecrest teammates always pair up at practice. Frequently, the action gets heated.

They swear it’s all in fun. Or at least it was until Cartwright inadvertently ripped Rieben’s meniscus during one of their recent after-school scuffles.

Not that injuries deter them.

“We ride each other,” Cartwright said. “We get on each other if we’re not doing something right. If we see something wrong, we’ll tell each other. We won’t just let it go.”

The healthy rivalry the seniors developed has helped them make mincemeat of their competition this season.

Rieben and Cartwright continued their sizzling start to the season at last weekend’s Shoreline Invitational.

While Rieben pinned all three of his opponents to capture the 189-pound championship, Cartwright recorded two pins — including the fastest of the tournament — and won the 215-pound title.

“I’ve been wrestling since seventh grade and this is my first time getting first in a tournament,” Cartwright said. “I’m pretty psyched about it.”

Junior Dan Cliney gave Shorecrest a third individual title at 119 pounds and two other Scots advanced to the finals of the eight-team tournament Jan. 10 at Shorewood High School. But it wasn’t enough for Shorecrest to repeat as team champion for a third straight year.

Six of O’Dea’s eight finalists were victorious and the Fighting Irish snagged the team title with 225 points. Shorecrest (192) pulled away from Shorewood (165.5) for second place, followed by Sammamish (146), Bellevue Christian (117.5), Bellevue (78), Ballard (53) and Ingraham (43).

“We just wrestled pretty solid,” Shorecrest coach Marcus Requa said. “We didn’t make too many mistakes.”

Rieben’s matches were as close to mistake-free as they come. He pinned Sammamish’s Brian MacKenzie 47 seconds into the second round and flattened O’Dea’s Greg Verall at the 1:29 mark of the first round to advance to the finals.

After trailing 8-4 early in the second round to Bellevue’s Kyle Emmerson, Rieben took his first lead on a reversal with 1:20 remaining in the final round and recorded the pin with 29 seconds to go.

“I wanted to tire him out and get him to the third round,” Rieben said. “I knew once I got him on his back I had the lead.”

Rieben placed second at the Shoreline Invite the past two years and tied for third at the Tumwater Invitational earlier this season.

“He wanted to win this tournament real bad,” Requa said.

As did Cartwright, who barely broke a sweat in his opening-round match. He needed just 10 seconds to pin Ingraham’s Andre Gill-McVey.

“All I was thinking right off the whistle was, ‘Head-tap and shoot,’” Cartwright said. “As soon as I shot, I picked him up and pinned him right there.”

Cartwright edged Sammamish’s Bobak Ranjabaran 9-7 in the semifinals and jumped to a 2-0 lead over Bellevue Christian’s Ivan Irizarry in the finals. Soon after the takedown, Cartwright scored his second swift pin of the day 20 seconds in.

“I just waited for the right moment,” Cartwright said.

The victories improved Cartwright’s record to 5-1 overall. His lone defeat came in a dual meet against defending league champion Everett.

“It’s not so much his intensity that I like, but his strength. His sheer power,” Requa said. “And his attitude’s great. He wants to work and he’s not afraid to work hard.”

Cliney received a first-round bye, then pinned Sammamish’s Dean Bradshaw in the semifinals at the 1:28 mark of the first round. In the finals Cliney recorded a 19-2 technical fall over O’Dea’s Matt O’Hare less than a minute into the third round.

“He was very intense,” Requa said of Cliney, who claimed the 112-pound Shoreline Invite title as a sophomore. “He wrestled a solid match and stayed in good position.”

Junior Eric Gurr (145) and freshman Kenji Myers (103) also reached the finals for the Scots. Gurr was trailing 2-1 when he was pinned by Bellevue’s John Bryce 28 seconds into the first round and Myers dropped a 17-9 decision to Ingraham’s Brandon Miller.

“I think once Kenji gets his strength up, he’ll be a real contender to beat anybody,” Requa said. “Right now he just gets beat by muscle and a little bit of technique.”

Shorecrest’s Brian Carlton (140) and Chris Hammerstrom (160) both won three of their four matches to finish third and Keegan Snow (112) and Kellan Sullivan (275) took fourth.

Requa hopes Shorecrest’s strong team showing at the invite is a sign of what’s to come the second half of the season.

“It gives us a benchmark to sort of rate ourselves on,” Requa said. “This is the first time as a team they’ve really pulled it together. Before today, it was really more of an individual effort at the tournaments.”

The Scots have yet to post a Western Conference 4A South Division dual meet victory. Meadowdale topped Shorecrest 46-28 Tuesday night, dropping the Scots to 0-5 in the league and 0-7 overall.

“I just want some dual wins,” Requa said. “I want to clean the goose egg off the board.”