TACOMA — The Arlington boys wrestling team placed first in 3A state scoring 141 points Feb. 20 at the Tacoma Dome.
Arlington qualified eight wrestlers — the most wrestlers of any school.
“All eight of these kids are quality kids,” Arlington coach Rick Iversen, who also announced his retirement that day. “We don’t have any surprises of kids, that just kind of wrestled; they all gave their heart and soul.”
There were many competitive matches, but of those eight, Ruben Crew was the only champion for Arlington in the 170-pound weight class.
The other seven: 120—Will Rush, seventh; 126—Boston Jones, third; 132—Gavin Rork, second; 138—Jeremy Nygard, second; 145—Cooper McAuslan, fifth; 160—Azariah Crew, second; and 195—Colton Ferro, fifth.
“Semifinals are a funny thing; you’re down to the four best kids in state and much of the time it’s hard to distinguish between the four,” Iversen said.
Jones, a senior, was pleased to see the team’s hard work pay off.
“We’re all such good friends so it motivated us all to have our eye on first place in state,” he said.
Placing in state was his most-memorable moment his last year with Arlington, he said.
“I was definitely the underdog, so that was definitely my best part of the season,” he added.
Nygard, also a senior, had similar sentiments, especially in seeing the number of wrestlers Arlington brought in.
“We brought some tough kids to the tournament, and the biggest thing why we’re ahead is that we’ve been pinning — that separated us from the other teams,” Nygard said. “And we got four in the finals so that’s really big.”
“Just seeing all these guys work their butts off in practice and seeing them get their hands raised is a big dream of ours to win the state tournament,” he added. “It’s really great seeing smiles on everyone’s faces.”
Meanwhile, the girls team placed 39th overall with senior Robin Hernandez placing third in the 106-pound weight class.
“It wasn’t just good fortune,” Iversen said. “The kids worked really hard to get here.”
Lakewood’s girls team placed 40th with 135-pound Makayla Jackson placing fourth and 110-pound Tommie Mosteller placing eighth.
Tony Woodruff placed seventh for Marysville Getchell in the 220-pound weight class, scoring 11 points for MG and placing his school 33rd overall. The senior has only wrestled since he was a freshman, but steadily improved along the way, his coach, Todd Freeman, said.
