Lake Stevens High School Athletics
Grante Falls High School Athletics
Purple and Gold Pigskin

RORY DOUGLAS | CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Lake Stevens wrestling team expected to do well at the Wesco district tournament on Feb. 1 and 2, but even the most optimistic Lake Stevens fan might’ve been surprised at how well the Vikings did.

Viking wrestlers placed first in eight of the fourteen weight classes, winning more individual championships than the rest of the Wesco teams combined. The Vikings also had two second-place finishers and eight other wrestlers in the top five to send a total of eighteen wrestlers on to the regional tournament.

The Vikings scored a total of 476.5 points, beating second-place Snohomish by more than 160 points. Cascade finished in third with 217.5 points.

The 106-pound final featured two Lake Stevens freshmen, Michael Soler and A.J. Crew, both ranked top-ten at state. Soler came out on top, but both wrestlers will have high seeds for next weekend’s regional tournament  

At 113 pounds, Lake Stevens’s Alex Rodorigo lost a hard-fought match to defending state champion Noah Cuzzetto. Lake Stevens freshman Reuben Crew placed fourth at 113 pounds.

Lake Stevens freshman Jake Douglas won the 120 pound weight class, pinning three opponents and accepting an injury default in the finals from Mount Vernon’s Luis Reyna, whom Douglas defeated earlier in the season.  Douglas scored the maximum number of team points possible for an individual wrestler.

The 138-pound final was a rematch between Lake Stevens’ Jesse Peterson and Snohomish’s Greg Eagle. In their first match this year, Peterson made a last-second comeback to win by one point. This time Peterson dominated the match, taking Eagle down twice and putting him on his back three times to win by an eight-point major decision.

Lake Stevens’ defending state champ Eric Soler cruised through the 145-pound weight class, defeating Cascade’s Noah Johnson in the finals 17-3.

At 160 pounds, Lake Stevens junior Logan Johnson upset top-seeded Hunter Lord from Lynnwood, pinning him in the third round. In the semi-finals Johnson defeated teammate Blake Sanders, who went on to place third.

Sophomore Cody Vigoren won the 170-pound weight class, defeating Kamiak’s Tyler Webley in the finals. Lake Stevens’s Shaq Reed pinned his opponent at 220 pounds, and senior Brandon Johnson won the heavyweight division with a 5-1 decision in the finals.

The top five placers from the Wesco district tournament will face off with the top three placers from the Narrows district tournament next weekend at Snohomish High School. That tournament will largely be a battle between Lake Stevens and Yelm, which dominated the Narrows tournament. The top four placers from that tournament move on to the state tournament at the Tacoma Dome.