Five of the six Oak Harbor High School wrestlers competing at the state 3A tournament Friday, Feb. 17, at the Tacoma Dome won two matches and are assured of earning a medal.
The tournament will conclude tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 18).
Three won their first two matches to reach the semi-finals and are still alive to claim first. Two others won two of three bouts and can finish anywhere between third and eighth.
Blake McBride (132 pounds) and Sam Zook (285) rolled to wins in the first two rounds for the Wildcat boys.
On the girls side, Meredith Bain (190) won twice.
Nick Dugin (182) and Caitlin Woodworth (170) each sandwiched wins around a loss, and Wendolyn Martinez (235) lost twice and was eliminated.
Zook and Bain both entered the tournament as the top-ranked wrestlers in their class, according to the Washington Wrestling Report. Zook finished third and Bain seventh at state in 2016.
Zook opened the competition by pinning 15th-ranked Dan Angel of Squalicum in 44 seconds, then avenged his only loss of last season (which came at state) by beating third-ranked Markus Robinson of Rogers of Spokane 4-1. He’ll face seventh-ranked Nathan Scanlan of Spanaway Lake in the semi-finals.
Bain stopped eighth-ranked Jacey Linder of White River 10-2, then slipped by fourth-ranked Glaysia Sparling of Decatur 2-0, scoring a near fall in the final seconds. Those wins set up a showdown with second-ranked Dakota Moon of Kalama in the semis.
Sixth-ranked McBride pinned 14th-ranked Ryan Slaughter of Ferndale in 4:09, followed by an 8-2 win over eighth-ranked Carsten Wheeler of Central Kitsap. Next up is top-ranked and three-time state champion Clai Quintanilla of Spokane’s North Central.
Sixth-ranked Woodworth posted a pin (1:43) over Lupe Navarro of Sunnyside, but fell (5:38) to fourth-ranked Quinn Lacy of Shelton in the final minute. She bounced back to beat Emily Parson of Nooksack Valley 1-0. Next is seventh-ranked Jasmine Welch of Yelm.
Dugin, now ranked 15th after being unranked until taking fourth at regional last week, upset sixth-ranked Alex Cleary of Ferndale 10-3.
“Nick lost to Cleary earlier this season, but this time he completely dismantled him,” coach Larry Falcon said.
Seventh-ranked Derrick Platt of Yelm topped Dugin 9-4 in the quarter-finals, then Dugin recovered to
defeat 13th-ranked Kevin Williams of Evergreen 4-2. He’ll face eighth-ranked Alton Culver of Mountain View Saturday.
Unranked Wendolyn Martinez (235) lost twice by a fall, first to fifth-ranked Mariah Stewart of Federal Way (3:13) and then to Maggie Torres of Sunnyside (1:13).
“I’m not disappointed at all,” Falcon said in regard to his team’s showing. “They are killing it.”
