The Islanders qualified sixteen wrestlers for regionals after the Mercer Island High School wrestling team dominated the 2013 Kingco-Seamount Wrestling Championships on Feb. 1-2.
The event, held at Interlake High School, drew nine high school teams and the Islanders, the 2013 KingCo Dual Meet champions, posted an impressive 264.5 points to win the tournament crown. Mount Si High School finished second (163.5 points) and Bellevue High School (157.5 points) finished third. The Islanders finished second place in the tournament last year.
The MIHS championship team results included 6 first place finishes, 4 second place finishes, 2 third place finishes and 3 forth place finishes. Wrestlers finishing in the top four spots of each division will wrestle in the Regional Championships to be held in Kelso, WA on Feb. 9.
Wrestlers finishing in the top 4 from MIHS's team were:
1st place 106 division: Taylan Yuasa (sophmore),
1st place 120 division: Luke Wilson (sophmore),
1st place 126 division: Jake Pruchno (junior),
2nd place 126 division: Trevor Gullstad (sophmore),
3rd place 132 division: Kenji Walker (junior),
4th place 138 division: Luca Caruccio (senior),
1st place 145 division: Connor Gullstad (senior),
4th place 152 division: Jack Vassau (sophmore),
2nd place 160 division: Chris Richards (junior),
3rd place 160 division: Tanner Ranz (junior),
1st place 172 division: Nick Chandler (senior),
1st place 182 division: Danny Stanke (senior),
2nd place 195 division: Evan Condon (sophmore),
4th place 220 division: Andy Picton (senior),
2nd place 285 division: Ben O'Connell (senior).
Also contributing to MIHS's success in the tournament were Scotty Lee (132 division), Mike Ong (138 division), Hank Barenborg (145 division), Nick Richards (152 division), Brian Wen (170 division) and Mikalai Hubarevich (182 division).
In addition to a impressive performance from the wrestling team, MIHS head coach Craig Laughary and assistant coach Adrian Diaz were presented awards for "Head Wrestling Coach" and "Assistant Wrestling Coach" of the year for King County.
The state tournament 2013 3A Mat Classic will be held at the Tacoma Dome on Feb. 15-16.
