It wasn’t due to lack of effort that Oak Harbor lost to 4A wrestling juggernaut Lake Stevens, 39-21 on Thursday.
The Wildcats gave the Vikings everything they had in the league loss.
“Lake Stevens is a real tough team,” head coach Brian Farmer said.“We had several matches that obviously could have gone either way and were real close.”
A 13-9 decision by junior Robert Taflinger (152) and a first round pin by junior Patrick O’Brien (171) put the Wildcats out front of the Vikings early, 9-3.
However, four ensuing victories by pin provided Lake Stevens with a lead they would not relinquish.
Despite the team loss, several Wildcats put up strong individual performances on the night.
Junior Tony Nicolas (140) improved his individual record to 17-1 with a hard-fought12-10 decision over Tyler Human, who took fifth in state last year. In the closely contested match, Nicolas got a three-point near takedown in the final seconds of the third round to propel him to victory.
Farmer described the match as the highlight of the meet.
“Tony’s a tough kid,” Farmer said. “He faced one of the top wrestlers in the state and did a fabulous job on him, an excellent job.”
Also putting up a solid effort was junior Grayson Miller (125). Miller took his opponent Kai Van Leuven into an overtime period only to lose a 3-2 decision on a technicality. He received a stall warning, which allotted Van Leuven one-point and the victory.
“It’s a tough way to lose,” Farmer said. “But Grayson’s just a second year kid and he did a real good job.”
Grayson’s brother Karlson Miller (103) got Oak Harbor’s second pin of the night, taking his opponent down 1:43 into the first round.
Also looking impressive for the Cats was freshman Robert Lemme, who took an early lead over Zach Burnett only to fend him off in the final seconds and take a 13-12 decision.
With the team loss Oak Harbor drops to 2-2 in league and 5-2 overall.
They travel to Ellensburg today to compete in a 16 team varsity tournament.
They will return to league competition at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Jan. 14 at Mount Vernon High School.
103—K. Miller (OH) pinned Culver, 1:43, 1st; 112—Lemme (OH) dec. Burnett 13-12; 119 Brown (LS) pinned Lang, :25, 1st; 125—Van Lueven (LS) dec. G. Miller 3-2 (OT); 130—Cloutier (LS) pinned Eggen, 1:22, 3rd; 135—Kubec (LS) dec. Wichers 11-7; 140—Nicolas (OH) dec. Human 12-10; 145—Bannon (LS) dec. Clark, 7-1; 152—Tafflinger dec. Crawford, 13-9; 160—Burgreen (LS) dec. Poole, 6-2; 171—O’Brien (OH) pinned Foss, 1:02, 1st; 189—Shea (LS) dec. Ward, 6-3; 215—Osborne (LS) pinned N. Davis, 1:42, 1st; 275—Leonard pinned M.Davis, 1:15, 2nd.
