Dual meets may have resulted in struggles for the Oak Harbor wrestling team this year, but the Wildcats came through when it counted on Saturday.

OHHS captured fifth place out of nine teams at the WesCo North Divisional Tournament, earning 198 points. Cascade finished just 17 points ahead of the Wildcats for fourth place, while Lake Stevens won the tournament with 415.5 team points.

Three OHHS wrestlers earned automatic bids to the 4A District Tournament Saturday, Feb. 5 at Everett High School by placing in the top three, while three more Wildcats will have to battle their way into the tournament via fourth place vs. fifth place elimination place matches.

Senior captain Karlson Miller lost just his second match of the season at 112 pounds to the state’s top ranked wrestler, Kelly Kubec in a 9-4 decision. The Lake Steven’s wrestler captured first, while Miller took second.

“That was the first time Karlson had faced Kubec this year, I think he’ll do better the next time he faces him,” OHHS assistant coach Lee Miracle said.

Junior Jeff Lang advanced to districts going undefeated into the championship match against Lester Brown of Lake Stevens. The number-one ranked wrestler at 135 pounds won a 19-3 technical fall over Lang for the title.

“Jeff actually did really well, he shot on him and got in on Lester,” Miracle said. “You don’t see many guys even try to shoot on him.”

Junior Sean O’Brien (171) was the only other Wildcat to secure a spot in this weekend’s district tournament by winning his match over Cole Elledge of Monroe by injury default.

David Wasickanin (125), Miles Hart (145) and Kyle Lange (189) earned themselves elimination bouts on Saturday. Wins there will enter them into the district tournament.

Wasickanin earned his opportunity pinning Justin Stump of Stanwood 1:42 into the first round of his loser-out match. Miles Hart pinned James Spear of Arlington with just seven seconds left in his match and Lange won a close 3-2 decision over Blake Austin of Lake Stevens to move on.

Wildcat wrestlers finishing in sixth place and just missing an opportunity to advance were Bryan Bowden (112) and Rob Lemme (119).