Despite winning only two bouts in Friday’s 58-12 loss to Lake Stevens in a WesCo North wrestling match, Oak Harbor coach Mike Crebbin said he was happy with the way the Wildcats performed.

“Lake Stevens has always been tough, but I really saw improvement in our performance compared to our Everett effort,” he said. “I’m very happy with their effort and every one of our wrestlers went out and did their best.”

The Vikings had three state champions on their roster at 103, 130 and 140 pounds, but Oak Harbor was able to hold its own in all weight classes.

“They have some quality wrestlers on their team and our goal

tonight was to make them earn that distinction of being quality wrestlers,” Crebbin said.

Lake Stevens dominated the action through the first nine bouts building a 43-0 lead, before Tlyer Elliot broke the string winning the 171-pound bout via pin fall over Alex Walkley with 34 seconds remaining in the first period.

“I wasn’t feeling good the last match and I just wasn’t wrestling up to my full capacity,” Elliot said.

“I felt a lot better tonight. I’ve been wrestling at 189 pounds, but I was down to my regular weight of 171 tonight. I had to lose a couple of pounds, but it wasn’t a big deal.”

On the heels of Elliot’s victory, Matt Johnston employed a series of arm-drag take downs on his opponent, Darren McGuire, and pinned the 189 pound Lake Stevens wrestler with 54 seconds remaining in the bout.

“I like that arm drag,” Johnston said after the bout. “He kept pushing into me so it was there.”

Crebbin praised the efforts of David Wasickanin and Miles Hartt.

“Most of the points David had scored on him were the result of mistakes and the kid he was up against is one of the top-ranked Class 4A wrestlers in the state,” Crebbin said. “With Miles, this was his first bout at 145 pounds and it is always hard until your body acclimates to the weight.”