Leach wins 112-pound title for T-birds, Yun second
By Tony Dondero
Enterprise reporter
SHORELINE
Sophomore Brandon Leach claimed the 112-pound title as Shorewood boasted more depth and finished third in the Shoreline Wrestling Invitational, Jan. 10 at its own gym.
Leach pinned Ellery Lanquin of Edmonds-Woodway in 56 seconds to win his first title in the Shoreline tournament after finishing second last year. Leach pinned Cameron Clark of O’Dea in 57 seconds in his other match.
“My main goal is to be third or higher at state,” said Leach, who attributed his some of improvement this year to better nutrition.
Leach improved to 11-0 on the year and cruised through the bracket with a bye and two easy wins.
“It was one of the brackets that had (fewer) kids,” Shorewood coach Derek Norton said. “Unfortunately it wasn’t much of a challenge for him. But you’ll take a championship. You’re not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Bellevue won the team title with 212.5 points, followed by O’Dea (197.5), Shorewood (128), Edmonds-Woodway (103.5), Shorecrest (103.5), Roosevelt (102), Ingraham (95) and Nathan Hale (32).
Tim Hester and Matt Jensen won individual titles for Shorewood last year, but had more depth this year and finished third as opposed to sixth, Norton said.
Leach and sophomore Daniel Yun made finals for the Thunderbirds, but Leach claimed Shorewood’s only title.
Yun, won the 103-pound title last year, but fell 2-0 to sophomore Matt Casimes of Bellevue after an early takedown.
“I was trying to catch him by surprise,” Yun said. “I was trying to catch him off the bat. He spun around for points.”
Yun fell to 12-3 on the season.
Norton said Shorewood wrestlers drew a lot of No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the first rounds which made it tough to advance but several wrestlers overcame that.
“We had several guys do better than expected,” he said. “We’re happy with the effort.”
Senior Daniel Lydin pinned teammate Ned Kelley in 3:33 in the third-place heavyweight bout to pick up points. Junior Anthony Shelts also surprised in the 215-pound weight class taking third with a 15-0 major decision over C.J. Thomas of Ingraham. Senior J.Y. Jo won an 8-1 decision over David Madsen of Roosevelt to take third at 160 pounds. Senior Carl Berenson placed third at 135 pounds, pinning Connor McCue of Shorecrest in 2:51.
Shorewood had a couple wrestlers out of the lineup: 119-pounder Kyle Floresca (personal issues) and 140-pounder Brandon Dean from King’s (injury).
Shorecrest did not have an individual winner but two wrestlers, sophomore Drew Arbanasin and freshman Bryan Officer made the finals.
Arbanasin won his first two matches at 145 pounds, a 9-1 decision over Shorewood’s Giovanni English, and by technical fall over Bellevue’s Derrick Mychaylo. But in the final, O’Dea’s Andre Popich pinned Arbanasin in 1:55 to claim the title.
“It was a good experience to see where I need to be to take first and make it to state,” Arbanasin said.
Officer won his first two matches by pin and decision to make the finals at 125 pounds. He fell behind early to Bang Zheng of Roosevelt and took second in his first Shoreline Invitational.
Shorecrest coach Vik Cheema said the Scots hoped for a better showing, but with only nine wrestlers out of a possible 14 that proved difficult.
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