WRESTLING: Decatur dominates Jaguar Invitational, crowns six champs

By Casey Olson • January 20, 2011 1:14 pm
Todd Beamer High School junior Tre Uson (top) takes control of a match Wednesday night against Graham-Kapowsin’s Taylor Salzberg. The Titans beat Federal Way in a dual meet and lost to Graham-Kapowsin in SPSL South action.
Todd Beamer High School junior Tre Uson (top) takes control of a match Wednesday night against Graham-Kapowsin’s Taylor Salzberg. The Titans beat Federal Way in a dual meet and lost to Graham-Kapowsin in SPSL South action.

The Decatur Gators wrestling team started its preparation for the postseason by dominating a solid field to win the team title at the Jaguar Invitational Saturday at Emerald Ridge High School in Puyallup.

The Gators finished with six individual weight class winners and tallied 198 team points to outdistance second-place Kentwood (130.5). Emerald Ridge (130) ended up third in the 11-team tournament.

Decatur’s regular-season schedule ended Thursday night with a loss to the unbeaten Enumclaw Hornets in a dual meet at home, 42-25. The victory gave the Hornets the South Puget Sound League 3A Division championship and ended the Gators’ season with a 3-2 record.

The Gators now focus their attention on the postseason. The SPSL Sub-regional tournament will be held Feb. 4-5, regionals will follow Feb. 11-12 and the state championships will be held inside the Tacoma Dome on Feb. 18-19.

At the Jaguar Invitational Saturday, the Gators dominated the lower weights. Decatur wrestlers won four of the first five weight classes Saturday. Trysten Dawson won at 103 pounds, Rad Krysa took the 119-pound title, Nick Lindholm won at 125 and Robert Harris finished first at 130. The Gators’ other two championships came from Nick Karis at 160 and Kyle Gleed at 285.

Dawson pinned White River’s Lucas Doll in the title match in just 56 seconds and Krysa, a senior, won a hard-fought 5-3 decision over Kelso’s Ryan Reed.

Lindholm and Harris both tallied pins in their respective championship matches Saturday. Lindholm needed 5:12 to pin his Gator teammate, Antonio Lucero, in the 125-pound title match and Harris cruised through his bracket at 130 with three-straight pins. He also beat a Decatur teammate in the championship, pinning Dennis Good in 2:51.

Karis continued his stellar sophomore season with another tournament title to add to his resume. Karis won all three of his matches Saturday by fall, including a 4:05 pin over Vashon’s Alex Sohl in the 160-pound championship.

Gleed also beat a Vashon wrestler to win the 285-pound title. The Decatur sophomore shutout senior Vince Jovanovich, 10-0, in the championship.

The Gators also got second-place finishes from Brandon Zimmerman (140) and Rowland Gaydosh (171) and third-place finishes from Spencer Smith (145) and James Bagley (215).

In other action:

• The always-tough Enumclaw wrestling team remained unbeaten and claimed the SPSL 3A Division title Thursday night with a hard-fought, 42-25, win over the Decatur Gators in Federal Way. The loss dropped the Gators to 3-2 in the SPSL 3A.

Decatur’s victories Thursday night came from Dawson at 103 pounds, Krysa at 119, Harris at 130, Gaydosh at 171 and Gleed at 285.

Both Dawson and Krysa won by pins early in their matches Thursday. Both won in 1:23 of the first round. Gleed also earned a pin at 285 midway through the third and final round. Harris won a decision shootout at 130 pounds, 25-23, and Gaydosh won a 12-3 decision.

But the most anticipated match of the night went Enumclaw’s way. Kario Wallin avenged an earlier loss to Karis at 160 pounds during the dual meet. Wallin won a 4-0 decision. Karis pinned Wallin, who finished second at last year’s state tournament, to win the extremely competitive SPSL Wrestling Championships on Dec. 30.

• The Todd Beamer Titans wrestling team got the best of cross-town rival Federal Way Wednesday night. The Titans upended the Eagles, 49-21, at Beamer in a three-team, South Puget Sound League South Division double dual.

Graham-Kapowsin, one of the top teams in the state, beat both Beamer and Federal Way. Graham-Kapowsin downed the Titans, 49-21, and beat up the Eagles, 62-16.

The Titans picked up seven pins and two technical falls against the Eagles to rack up big team points.

The pins came from Josh Hibbitt at 103 pounds, Tre Uson at 119, Ares Carpio at 130, Michael Barnhart at 135, Lance Gibson at 152, Jose Hernandez at 189 and Dylan Steiger at 215. Beamer’s technical falls came from Brett Dykman at 112 and Thomas Lowery at 125.

Federal Way’s victories during the dual with the Titans came from Tanner Day, a pin at 140 pounds, Langley Ngov, a 6-2 decision at 145, Joseph Coronell, a technical fall at 160, and Jessy Leifi earned a pin at 285 pounds. Drei San-Nichols won by forfeit at 171 pounds.

Beamer won three matches against Graham-Kapowsin. Dykman pinned Spencer Schroeder at 112, Carpio pinned Reid Miller at 130 and Gibson won a 5-3 decision at 152 pounds.

Federal Way won a pair of matches against Graham-Kapowsin. Coronell got a 10-1 major decision over Ben Olson at 160 and 215-pounder Nevin Hair pinned his opponent.