Six of the 10 Oak Harbor High School wrestlers who competed in the regional tournaments Saturday earned trips to the state meet.
Of the eight Wildcat boys who took part in the regional at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, seven placed and four finished among the first four to qualify for state.
Caitlin Woodworth (155 pounds) and Meredith Bain (190), the lone Oak Harbor entries in the girls regional at Bellingham’s Squalicum High School, finished second and third respectively and landed state slots.
The state tournament, Mat Classic XXVIII, is slated for Friday and Saturday, Feb. 19 and 20, at the Tacoma Dome.
As a team, the Oak Harbor boys had “a great day,” according to coach Larry Falcon and were the surprise of the regional. After placing fifth out of seven teams at the sub-regional a week earlier, the Wildcats jumped to fourth out of 15 teams at the regional.
Top-ranked Arlington captured the team title with 224 points, followed by Edmonds-Woodway (197.5), Ferndale (144) and Oak Harbor (88).
Dymond Piper (152 pounds) and Sam Zook (285), who won sub-regional titles, repeated as champions at the regional.
Blake Servatius (106) and Zach Aketch (145) also qualified for state by placing fourth.
It was a strong effort by Aketch, who finished ahead of three higher seeded wrestlers. The performance also put Aketch into the Washington Wrestling Report’s rankings for the first time; he is listed 12th among 3A athletes in his weight class.
Two Wildcats, Garrett Stahl (113) and Blake McBride (126), finished fifth and will be alternates to state. Michael Lym (132) took sixth.
Eleventh-ranked Piper recorded two pins (3:28, 3:26) before defeating Glacier Peak’s Ricky Kranz 12-5 in the finals.
Zook, who is undefeated and ranked fourth, won by a fall (:25) and 9-1 before stopping Glacier Peak’s Malakai Fifita 3-0 in the championship bout.
The girls individual match results were not supplied. Following are the Oak Harbor boys results at the regional:
Servatius, 106 (fourth place): lost 13-2; won by fall, 3:15; won 10-9; lost by fall, :31.
Stahl, 113 (fifth): lost 10-2; won 4-1; lost 5-4; won 4-3.
McBride, 126 (fifth): won 6-3; lost 5-0; lost 5-1; won 2-0.
Lym, 132 (sixth): lost by fall, 5:25; won 11-5; lost 5-3; lost 7-5 (overtime).
Aketch, 145 (fourth): lost 13-5; won by fall, 5:09; won by injury default; lost 7-0.
Piper, 152 (first): won by fall, 3:28; won by fall, 3:36; won 12-5.
Nick Dugin, 170: lost 6-5; lost 8-5.
Zook, 285 (first); won by fall, :25; won 9-1; won 3-0.
