MARYSVILLE — The district wrestling tournament didn’t hold a lot of surprises for the Tomahawk wrestling team.
Although the boys had the advantage of the home floor in the Feb. 6-7 tournament, all six of the wrestlers who advanced to the regional wrestling tournament in Snohomish Feb. 13-14 placed at or about where they were seeded.
Like last year, the Tomahawks will be represented at regionals by wrestlers on opposite ends of the weight classes.
Two freshmen go on to the state-seeding tournament out of the two lightest classes. At 103 pounds, freshman Luis Cardona went 4-2 through his bracket, picking up a key 5-1 decision over Shorewood sophomore Daniel Yun in the consolation bracket. Overall, Cardona moved up from his No. 7 seed to place fifth. Freshman Christian Mendoza and sophomore Brandon Blevins each matched their projected finish, placing seventh at 112 and 119 pounds, respectively.
An alternate to state last year in a lighter class, junior Brian Donaldson came into the district tournament with the second seed at 130 pounds. A loss to Lake Stevens freshman Steven Walkley in his third match derailed his district championship hopes, but Donaldson bounced back to defeat Edmonds-Woodway’s Ryan DeWeese and Oak Harbor’s Colton Elliot for third place.
On the other end of the spectrum, senior heavyweight Ricky Dschaak started strong despite coming back only recently from an injury. Dschaak earned pins in his first two matches and advanced to a semifinal match against Arlington’s Bryant Dickerson with a 12-0 major decision against Snohomish heavyweight Mike Maybin, the eventual third-place finisher. Dschaak lost back-to-back decisions to Dickerson and Mariner’s Timochi Ratuniyauravu, placing sixth with an injury default in the match for fifth and sixth place.
Senior Tannon Hillis led the Tomahawks with a second-place finish at 215 pounds. He faced an easy enough road to the bracket’s championship match, pinning Arlington’s Matt Kratzer and Chris Carstens of Mountlake Terrace. But a 16-0 technical fall over Edmonds-Woodway’s Alex Rutledge set up Hillis with his nemesis this season, Snohomish senior Derek Britton.
Britton won decisions over Hillis in their two previous meetings this season, in the teams’ January dual meet and at the M-P Premier. The two could feasibly meet again at regionals when this time Britton’s school plays host.