Oak Harbor’s Colton Elliot earned a return trip to the state tournament by placing fifth at the tough Regional I tournament last weekend at Auburn.
He will be joined at state by Jennifer Fremd who placed fourth in the girls’ regional meet at Sedro-Woolley Saturday.
Elliot and Fremd now move to the state finals at the Tacoma Dome this weekend, Feb. 19 and 20. Elliot placed sixth in state at 130 pounds last year.
Four Wildcat boys qualified for the regional, but Elliott was the only one to make it through. Region I is the state’s largest and toughest. It featured state powers Tahoma, Lake Stevens and Auburn. In the latest state 4A rankings, Tahoma jumped past Lake Stevens into the No. 1 spot; the Vikings were third and Auburn fifth. Lake Stevens has won three straight state titles.
Elliot, ranked seventh in the state in the 140-pound class, opened the meet with a 13-0 win, then lost to the eventual champion and state’s top ranked wrestler Tyler Lamb of Tahoma 16-7.
After a win by a pin (4:06), Elliot faced Andrew King of Lake Stevens who came in ranked fifth in the state and edged Elliot 4-3 in a dual meet earlier this year. Elliot eliminated King with a pin (2:51).
Elliot then lost a tough 1-0 decision to the state’s No. 4 ranked wrestler, Brian Donnelson of Marysville-Pilchuck. Elliot bounced back to win by a pin (4:18) to grab fifth and a ticket to state.
Oak Harbor coach Mike Crebbin said Elliot finished ahead of two wrestlers who placed above him at last weekend’s district tournament.
Corey Trimber (103) had the misfortune of being in the “most stacked” class of the regional, according to Crebbin, as six of the state’s top seven ranked wrestlers at 103 pounds all ended up at Auburn.
Trimber won 9-3 and then was pinned (:55) by No. 1 Steve Hopkins of Tahoma. After winning 8-2 in the consolation bracket, Trimbur lost 10-3 to No. 7 ranked Sonny Bates-Mundell of Snohomish.
Crebbin said, “Corey wrestled the best he has all season. It was really nice to see him finish the season wrestling so well.”
Brandon Stratton (145) won by a pin (2:20) in the first round then lost 11-9. In the consolation round he was upset 11-8 by a wrestler he had beaten earlier this year.
Crebbin said it was a disappointing finish for Stratton who “didn’t make any of the necessary adjustments” to win the final match.
Zach Loescher (171) lost both his matches. Crebbin said Loescher injured his shoulder and tried to fight through it, but it was obvious that it greatly hampered his ability.
Fremd, the only female on the Oak Harbor squad, opened regional action by coming from behind to score a pin one second before the end of the second round. She lost 8-4 in the semifinals, but came back to win a 6-4 decision in the consolation bracket to earn a spot to state. She lost by a pin in her final match in the battle for third and fourth places.
