MARYSVILLE In one of the largest meets of its kind, the M-P junior varsity wrestling team won the Marysville JV Classic.
The Dec. 15 meet went on for more than six hours, as the approximately 375 wrestlers in attendance were guaranteed three matches. M-P was declared the winner with the largest number of wrestlers placing first, second or third with 14 such wrestlers. Snohomish finished second with 11.
Every team here had at least one finalist. Snohomish had 11, they had the second most after us. And I believe Arlington was in the top five as well, said Tomahawk JV coach John Hodgins. Of the top finishing teams, he added, We were also the biggest team because we had 31 and they had 33 kids in it.
Twenty-four schools were represented in the competition, including Arlington-area private school Highland Christian, which has formed its first-ever wrestling squad. That team has only wrestled in JV tournaments thus far, Hodgins said.
The meet was a busy affair. With eight mats operating at the same time and so many schools, students from any school could be wrestling on any mat at any given time.
With so many wrestlers in action, the meet organizers hosted matches in more weight classes. Nine Tomahawks won theirs. Tanner Daurie, who saw his first varsity meet at 103 pounds against Stanwood two days earlier, won the competition at 107 pounds, while Trong Dinh and Marcus Haughian won lighter weight classes at 112 and 119 pounds respectively.
In the heavier weights, Philip Klein won at 150 pounds, Derrick Sherman at 170, Jon Gutenkauf at 179, Auston Mathis at 201, Kyle Boze at 245 and Tylor Hall at 285.
Although not all of the conferences junior varsity was represented in the meet, Hodgins said the Tomahawks success bodes well for the future of the program.
I think its a good sign. We always have a lot of kids, so we have good depth. It helps you never sink to the bottom, he said. Our league is so competitive and tough, its hard to make it to the top. But it helps to have good numbers to avoid falling to the bottom.
An advantage of meets like the Classic is that many young wrestlers get their first-ever match in the Jim Linden Fieldhouse. Larger programs such as Marysville, Snohomish and Kamiak can often outnumber their rivals in head-to-head meets, keeping athletes from getting early experience.
A lot of first-year wrestlers, its hard to find matches for kids who arent on your varsity and JV because there arent a lot of teams with numbers like ours. Were still pretty early in the season and it is hard to find matches, Hodgins said, adding that competition is important to the developing wrestler.
Five Tomahawks placed second in their weight class: Sam Mack, Jake Lervold, Ali AlMansuri, Stevie Utt and Cole Cushing. Eight more took third: Christian Melum, Garrett Bates, Thomas Haas, Tanner Bengen, Kelly Hagen, Ricky Dschaak, Matt McChesney and Josh Wallace.