Wrestling vs Stanwood and Monroe, Jan 21st & 22nd.

The Oak Harbor wrestlers had back-to-back dual meets last week, hosting Stanwood on Wednesday and traveling to Monroe on Thursday.

The JV wrestlers went 6-3 against their Stanwood counterparts, with one pin recorded. Tucker Lundstrom got the first win with an 8-4 win over Bennett, then Tina Alter took the mat against Candia. Her match lasted only 1:11, as Tina was able to get her first dual meet pin against him. Nick Farrell was all over Jewell 17-2, then Hunter Vail scored a 2-point near fall in the 3rd to break a tie and win the match 8-6. Josh Scrum notched a tech fall vs. Matlier, 17-1 and Tucker Lundstrom hit the mat for a 2nd time, beating Pedroza 8-1. Jesse Tucker and Josh McVey also saw mat time for the Wildcats. Jaron Strickland and Zack Van Pelt held an exhibition match, with Strickland getting the pin in 55 seconds.

Kyle Magana was up first against Aldapa, and although he worked hard, Aldapa got the 10-5 win. Jake Lundstrom got the first win for Oak Harbor, at 189 pounds, with a 14-5 major decision over Ross. Jarrod Green and Phil Rodgers at 215 and 285 were pinned by Pedroza and Hatley respectively. Dropping back to the lightweights, Corey Trimbur pinned Gilfeather with less than a minute left in the match and Ben Pralle was pinned by Duran. Royce Cardwell, at 119 pounds, started off well against the Spartan’s Studley, taking an early lead, but Studley dug in and dominated for the rest of the match, winning 11-4. Connar Zimmerman shut out Bascom 8-0, Mark Pelham (S) beat Ian Cardwell 15-2 and Weinert beat Stratton 9-4. Ben Page, who has been wrestling very well lately, beat the other Pelham, Matt, 5-0, and John Tuttle win 9-4 over Ulrich. Going into the last two matches, the Wildcats were down by 11, and with pins in both matches could win the meet, but Jarred Tyson lost a close 5-3 match to Eidsness and in the final match freshman Justin Everett was tech’d by Barquist, 16-0.

The JV wrestlers didn’t do as well against Monroe as they did against Stanwood, losing 5 of 9 matches. Winners were Josh Schrum over Perry 20-5, Matt Bistline over Hansen by pin in 1:34 and Jaron Strickland over “Josh” by pin in the last second of the 2nd period. In a great match, Tucker Lundstrom was losing 4-3 starting the 3rd, but scored 6 consecutive points on a reversal and two near-falls to win 9-4. Ben Pralle, Tina Alter, Jesse Tucker and Nick Farrell were also on the mat for the Wildcats. Ian Cardwell, although not winning, provided an exciting match. Ian was ahead 10-9 in the 3rd when his opponent, Stacker, scored an escape to force overtime, which Stacker won by scoring a takedown.

The varsity side of meet started again with the heavier wrestlers, with Jarrod Green taking the mat first. He was pinned by a very good Ingersoll, and Phil Rodgers was pinned as well at 285 pounds. Monroe was to forfeit at 103 and Oak Harbor at 112, but Coach Crebbin decided to move Corey Trimbur up to 112 pounds and have a double forfeit at 103, preventing Monroe from earning an automatic 6 points. It was a gutsy call, but didn’t work out, as Corey, wrestling at a 15-pound disadvantage, was pinned in the 1st period. Now down 18-0, the Wildcats went on a 7-1 win streak, with Royce Cardwell pinning Saether in the 1st and Connar Zimmerman beating Johnson 16-3 to bring the score to 18-10 in Monroe’s favor. Josh Barton lost a close 5-4 match to C. Curnutt to make the team score 21-10. That was the last lead Monroe would have, as the next four Wildcats each pinned their opponents. Brandon Stratton took 5 minutes exactly to beat J. Curnutt, Ben Page stuck Foster in 2:50, John Tuttle over Dimaggio in 5:06 and Jarred Tyson over Palumbo in 3:04. With the score now 34-21, Oak Harbor need one more win to guarantee the team win. Kyle Magana, who has been struggling a bit this year at 171 pounds dropped to 160 for this meet, and won a hard-fought match 4-3. Freshman Hunter Vail, in his first varsity match, was pinned by Vasquez and in the last match of the night, Jake Lundstrom was pinned by Monroe stud Sam Kenagy, but Oak Harbor won the meet 37-33.

46 photos of JV action vs Stanwood can be found HERE.

Tina Alter’s pin over Candia can be found HERE on YouTube.