Wrestling - District Tournament - Feb 6 & 7, 2009 @ MPHS

Oak Harbor sent 26 wrestlers to the WESCO District tournament at Marysville-Pilchuck HS on Feb 6th & 7th, 10 completed in the 2nd day of competition, and 7 are moving on to the regional tournament next weekend at Snohomish HS.

103 – Junior Brandon Strickland lost by pin to eventual #5 placer Sonny Bates Mundell, and in the consolation bracket lost a heartbreaking 10-8 overtime match to Mariner’s Parker to end his postseason. Sophomore Corey Trimbur, in his first year of HS wrestling, won his first match Friday, beating Rezikov of MP by pin with just 25 seconds remaining in the match, but was then pinned by eventual 3rd place finisher Krafft of Kamiak. In Saturday’s consolation bout, Corey made a small mistake early, and his opponent took advantage of it and got the pin in less than a minute. Corey was upbeat about the whole experience, knowing it’s more than likely he’ll stay in the 103 lb class for his final two years of wrestling, and can only get better with more experience.

112 – Freshman Ben Pralle was the only Oak Harbor representative in this weight class, and in his first year ever of wrestling, didn’t advance past the first day. Ben’s first match was against senior Joey Duran of Stanwood, the 2nd place finisher, and in the consolation bracket lost to 5th place finisher John Kim of Mariner. Ben improved a lot as the season progressed, and is expected to wrestle well next year.

119 – Freshman Josh Schrum’s first match was a loss against Lake Steven’s Cervantes, the 5th place finisher, but in the consolation bracket won by pin over Lanquin of Edmonds. In his 3rd match of the day, Josh fell to Kamiak’s Nelson. Senior Royce Cardwell won his first two matches of the day, pinning Lanquin in just 43 seconds, then pinning Graika of Kamiak in one minute exactly. Then, Royce went up against Jarred Studley of Stanwood. Royce lost the first meeting 11-4, at a dual meet on Jan 21st, and lost this bout by pin in 2:29. On Saturday, Royce wrestled 4 times, winning 3. His first was a dominating win over Venskus of Mariner 19-3, then pinned Floresca of Shorewood in 4:12 and beat Kalmey of Snohomish 10-4. The last win put Royce into the 3rd-place match, against Studley. Royce wrestled well, but still couldn’t beat Studley and finished the tournament in 4th place and earning a trip to Snohomish next weekend.

125 – Zack Van Pelt, a freshman, was Oak Harbor’s #2 man at 125 lbs, but couldn’t advance past day 1, getting pinned twice. Sophomore Connar Zimmerman, who is moving this summer and won’t be with the team next year, did well. He won his first match by tech fall, 16-1, over Nijem of Jackson HS, pinned Lake Steven’s Johnson in 2:48 and Stanwood’s Bascom in 5:12. On the 2nd day of the tournament, Zimmerman’s first match was a tough one, against Kamiak’s Kusilek. It was close, but in the end it was Kusilek 3-2. Now in the consolation bracket, Connar beat Strickland of Kamiak 11-5, then beat Jackson’s Mead 5-3 to take 3rd place and a trip to Snohomish next week. Kusilek ended the tournament in 2nd, and they’ll probably wrestle each other again sometime next weekend.

130 – Josh Barton lost his first match 10-0, but beat Powell of Kamiak 8-2 before losing to Sanchez of Jackson 5-0 to end his tournament. Colton Elliot, back after a long break due to a broken thumb worked his way up the winners’ bracket by pinning Powell in 3:56 and beating DeWeese of Edmonds 15-9. On day 2 of wrestling, Colton faced of against Sam Ottow of Snohomish, seeded #1 in the tournament, and with his thumb visibly bothering him lost a 16-3 decision. In the consolation bracket, Colton beat Boyd from Mariner 11-4, and in the 3rd place match, decided to injury default and rest his thumb rather than risk injury. Colton finished 4th and will go to Snohomish next weekend.

135 – Freshman David Payne gained some valuable experience, but didn’t advance past the first day. Another freshman, Brandon Stratton, went all the way, finishing 7th overall. Although Stratton lost his first match 11-0 to Reim of Mariner (who finished 4th), he worked his way through the consolation bracket to place. He pinned Shorewood’s Dean in 2:12 on day 1, and on day 2 beat Snohomish’s Mitchell in a VERY close 4-3 match before losing to Shorewood’s Berenson 13-9. That loss put Brandon into the 7th-8th place match, where he promised he would not lose, and he didn’t, pinning Stanwood’s Wiganosky in 4:29. That win ensured he would get the final spot at next week’s regional tournament instead of going as an alternate.

140 – Josh McVey was eliminated on day 1, but John Tuttle went all the way, emerging as the WESCO district champion. John had a bye in the 1st round on Friday, pinned Kuehn of Snohomish in 3:30 then dominated Pennington of Lake Stevens 12-2. On day two John won a hard-fought 10-6 over Arlington’s Shortt, sending John to the championship match. In the finals, Tuttle beat Jacobson from Kamiak 12-8 for a spot at the top of the podium.

145 – Oak Harbor had 2 seniors in this weight class. Matt Bistline did not advance past day 1, and Ben Page lost a close 7-6 match to move to the consolation bracket, where he beat Ben Bowen of Jackson 11-5 and pinned Barnett of Arlington in just 20 seconds to advance to day 2. On Saturday, Ben made a couple of mistakes and couldn’t recover, winding up being pinned by DiMaggio of Monroe, the 4th place finisher.

152 – Both OH wrestlers advanced to the 2nd day of competition. Freshman Justin Everett had a 1st round bye, but was tech’d by Mariner’s Coffman 15-0 in the 2nd. In the consolation bracket, Justin pinned Hartlove in 2:44 to advance to day 2. Saturday’s match was against Barquist of Stanwood, and Justin, although working hard to avoid the pin, but couldn’t hold out long enough against 5th place finisher Barquist of Stanwood. Although he didn’t place, Justin gained some valuable experience and should place next year. The other entry, senior Jarred Tyson, spent all of day 1 in the winner’s bracket, pinning Jo Nelson of Mariner in 1:50, pinning Jackson’s Tisdale in 2:35, and beating Stanwood’s Barquist 10-4. On Saturday, Jarred lost his first match against Morrill of Snohomish, but in his first consolation match pinned Arlington’s McPherson in just 41 seconds, advancing him to the 3rd place match. There, Jarred faced off against E-W’s McAllister and was beaten 8-2. With the 4th place finish, Jarred goes to the regional meet in Snohomish next weekend.

160 – Freshman Nick Farrell and senior Kyle Magana were the Oak Harbor entries at 160 lbs, but neither advanced to Saturday’s matches.

171 – Zach Loescher won his first match, pinning Sam Koenig from Edmonds with just 6 seconds left in the match, but was pinned in turn by Smith of Shorewood. Freshman Hunter Vail was the other Wildcat entry, and lost his 1st round bout by a close 9-8 score. In the consolation bracket, Loescher and Vail had the misfortune of going up against each other, and Loescher was the victor, 8-3, eliminating Vail. Loescher was eliminated in the next round, losing 13-6 to Irving of Arlington. Both men will be back next year with this experience to build on.

189 – Alec Castillo lost his first bout, but beat Schrank from Arlington in the consolation bracket by pin in just 16 seconds before losing to Marks from Cascade to end his tournament. Jake Lundstrom, the other 189 pounder, was not able to win either of his two matches.

215 – There were two seniors in this weight bracket for Oak Harbor – Jarred Green (JT), and Brian Howard. JT didn’t advance past the first day, but Brian placed 6th overall for a trip to Snohomish next weekend. Brian won his first match with a quick 45-second pin over Theo Hatziliadis of Kamiak, then pinned Cascade’s Reining in 3:53 before losing to Edmonds-Woodway’s Rutledge 9-5. On day 2, Brian worked hard and was able to pin Jake Reinhard from Snohomish in 3:58, then pinned Brunswick of Mariner in 2:21. Brian then wrestled for a spot in the 3rd place bout, but lost 15-8 to Kroshko of Mariner, moving him to the 5th place bout. In that final bout, Brian’s shoulder was causing him quite a pit of pain, and he wound up getting pinned by Monroe’s Ingersoll. But, he moves on and will be wrestling next weekend in Snohomish.

285 – Finally, to Phil Rodgers, Oak Harbor’s lone entry in the heavyweight bracket. Unfortunately, Phil went up against Lake Steven’s Zach Teuber, who pinned Phil just a week earlier in the dual meet, and this match didn’t end differently. In the consolation bracket, Phil got a well-deserved pin over Ademichael of E-W, in 1:36, but was then pinned by Mariner’s Bakeberg.

Photos from the tournament are posted HERE.