Six T-birds heading to regionals

SHORELINE — When George Malinovsky first went out for wrestling two years ago, he was noticeably undersized even for the lightest division.

He could have poured cement in his sneakers and still made weight.

“My sophomore year, I was a lean, 93 pounds — max,” Malinovsky recalled. “I had to have my backpack on to reach triple digits.”

Not any longer.

For the first time in his brief career, Malinovsky needed to shed a few pounds to maintain his bantam build. The Shorewood senior has kept one eye on the scale and the other watching his back, as the postseason heats up.

Fending off an upset stomach, Malinovsky captured his first Western Conference 4A South Division title at 103 pounds at last weekend’s sub-regional tournament and is just two wins away from reaching the state championships.

“He’s got the ability to go to state. He’s got to start believing that,” Shorewood coach Arnie Moreno said. “A lot of it with George is he’s got to believe in himself. As good a wrestler as he’s been the past few years … he still thinks he’s got a lot to prove to himself.

“He’s got to work on his confidence. Knowing he’s a champion, that will help.”

In between the semifinals and finals Feb. 8 at Shorewood High School, Malinovsky ate something that didn’t agree with his system. He hunched over and grimaced in pain throughout the finals, pausing the match twice in the third period for injury attention.

Malinovsky hurried to a 4-0 advantage over Everett’s Tom Swankosky and added another takedown at the start of round two before the discomfort set in. Swankosky closed the gap to two points going into the third round with a reverse and near fall combination but Malinovsky held on for a 6-4 decision.

“I guess I’ve got to work on my endurance some more,” said Malinovsky, who placed third behind a pair of Edmonds-Woodway wrestlers at last year’s division tournament. “These last matches, it always gets to me. But you’ve got to gut it out.”

Sometimes, literally.

“My plan was essentially to get a whole bunch of points before I got worn out,” Malinovsky said. “(At) 4-0, I was thinking maybe it was time to start stalling.”

Following a first-round bye, Malinovsky pinned his next two opponents to reach the finals. His three wins improved his season record to 21-4.

With the title, Malinovsky takes a No. 1 seed into the Region 1 tournament, Feb. 14-15 at Snohomish High School. The top four finishers at regionals qualify for next week’s Mat Classic XV at the Tacoma Dome.

Senior Ray Sanders nearly earned Shorewood a second individual championship at 125, advancing to the finals for the second year in a row. Everett’s Brian Irwin led 5-0 at the end of the first round, but Sanders controlled the entire second round and pulled even at 5-all with a swift reverse 15 seconds into the third round.

In the final 50 seconds, Irwin strung together an escape and reverse to seal an 8-5 decision. It was just the fifth defeat for Sanders this season in 25 matches.

Sanders provided Shorewood’s lone victory in a lopsided dual meet loss to Everett earlier this year by posting a major decision against Irwin.

“He had a little bit of vengeance in him and he really used it well,” Sanders said. “He kept cutting everything off … he really knew what was coming (next).”

In the quarterfinals Sanders recorded the tournament’s second-fastest pin, needing just 18 seconds to flatten Edmonds-Woodway’s Justin Hall. Sanders soundly defeated Kamiak’s Sean Rich 15-3 in the semifinals.

Four Thunderbirds placed fourth and will take part in pigtail matches against the fifth-place finishers out of the Wesco 4A North Division sub-regional today for a spot in the regional brackets.

At 112, senior Ezekiel Arnez fell to eventual champion Joe Trieu in the semifinals, then pinned Trieu’s Edmonds-Woodway teammate to advance to the consolation final. Mountlake Terrace’s Kody Cundy pinned Arnez with three seconds left in the first round to take third place.

Sophomore Brian Jensen also split his four matches to secure a return trip to regionals at 130.

“He’s just getting tougher and tougher every tournament,” Moreno said. “He’s a tournament wrestler. He loves tournaments.”

Junior Colin Ferris is advancing at 135 and senior Blair Shoemaker overcame a nagging ankle sprain to clinch his first regional berth at 171. Shoemaker rolled his left ankle last month at practice and aggravated the injury during his quarterfinal victory.

He opted to default his semifinal match to Edmonds-Woodway’s Luis Howard and try to qualify through the consolation draw.

“I knew going into the semis it would be close even if I was at 100 percent,” Shoemaker said. “So I gave it to him and dropped down to the loser’s bracket. I used some strategy.”

The tactic paid off, as Shoemaker notched a pin to earn a spot in the consolation final. But rather than risk further damage, Shoemaker took another default and settled for the division’s No. 4 seed.

Everett backed up its regular season Wesco 4A South Division championship by cruising to the sub-regional team title with 376.5 points, well ahead of second-place Mountlake Terrace (263.5). Mariner (230.5) took third, followed by Kamiak (211), Edmonds-Woodway (191), Jackson (163.5) and Shorewood (135).

Representatives from the South Puget Sound League’s nine-team North Division are joining the Western Conference’s 16 4A schools at regionals.

“(Wesco) North and the South Puget Sound League are two of the toughest leagues out there today,” Sanders said. “It’s going to be a really tough tournament. If I could place or get to the finals of regionals, it shouldn’t be much different than the state tournament. It’s just that stacked.”