STANWOOD — Both the Tomahawks and Chargers wrestling teams advanced athletes to regionals during the Wesco 3A District Wrestling Tournament at Stanwood High School from Feb. 1 to Feb. 2.
For Marysville Getchell, a team formed just two years ago, it was a very successful event and three of their wrestlers were champions.
At 113 pounds, Billy Almachar took first place, pinning Stanwood’s Taran Brewer in his first match. He went on to beat Isaiah Heredia of Ferndale in a 7-3 decision. He took the championship when he beat Stanwood’s Nathan McCaughan 10-5 in the final match.
Almachar winning the tournament was a bit of a surprise considering that he was out sick for that week.
“We saw Billy on Monday and then after that he was out sick,” said MG head coach Todd Freeman. “We told him to stay home and rest, so we didn’t see him again until the first day of the tournament.”
Cody Stone also emerged a champion at 170 pounds. He pinned Stanwood’s Brett Wilfong in 3:12 and then pinned Everett’s Anthony Hawkins in 3:23. Stone went on to pin Courtney Shavers of Oak Harbor in 3:43 to win the championship.
“Our 170, Cody Stone, has been between 160 and 170 all season,” said Freeman. “He was seeded third and he ended up beating the second-place and first-place wrestlers, pinning both of them. It was his first tournament win ever, even as in JV.”
Stone had a method for beating the bigger, higher-ranked wrestlers.
“He was patient and he waited. He pinned them both in about a round and a half,” said Freeman. “They were trying so hard to pin him and muscle him around that they just wore themselves out.”
Getchell’s Alfredo Diaz took first place at 285 pounds. He pinned Peter Case-Smith of Oak Harbor in 1:30 during his first match. His second match ended in another pin, this time of Ferndale’s Chris Hernandez in 1:47. He pinned Jackson Constant of Oak Harbor in 1:36 of the final match to take the championship.
“He’s been doing really well all season. He’s only had one loss,” Freeman said of Diaz. “He was ranked No. 1 going in and pinned his way through.”
Diaz, Stone and Almachar are all headed to the Wesco 3A Regional Tournament at Stanwood High School on Feb. 9.
“There will be eight kids in each bracket and the top four go to state,” said Freeman. “I think that all three of them should advance to state. For Cody, a second match against Everett’s Anthony Hawkins is going to be key.”
Overall, the team is showing lots of promise for being young and a new program.
“The team started off slow. We had a lot of freshman and sophomores in varsity this year, so it took a while to break bad habits,” said Freeman. “Three weeks before districts we won two matches against Lakewood and Granite Falls, and it was really key to our success. They didn’t keep any of those bad habits. Our freshman have been doing really well, we had two take fourth place — Rage Quick and Gabriel Broome. I think when they come back next year they will have a chance at District finals.”
Marysville-Pilchuck had two champions, Drew Hatch at 160 pounds and Ismael Perez at 195 pounds. Hatch pinned Everett’s Christian Klumper in .59 and then pinned Brody DeDobbeleare of Oak Harbor in .57. He won his final match when he pinned Oak Harbor’s Joshua Crebbin in 3:12.
Perez pinned Stanwood’s Alex Hurn in .31 in the first match. He pinned Everett’s Matt Alspaugh in 1:25 in the second match and went on to beat Garrett Arrona of Stanwood 9-2 in the final match, making him the champion.
M-P’s Jacob Greene took third at 120, while teammate Ryan Daurie took second at 126, qualifying them both for regionals. Killian Page took second place at 145, Iggy Gabov took third at 220 and Jory Cooper took third at 285, and they advance to regionals as well.
