TACOMA — All senior Arlington Ruben Crew needed was a little motivation to take the 3A individual state wrestling title Feb. 20.

Watching twin brother Azariah lose in the finals sparked Ruben to take it all.

“When my brother lost I came out there more aggressive and angry, more so if he didn’t,” Crew said.

Ruben defeated Calvin Fischer of Central Kitsap 9-5 taking the 170-pound weight class.

As a result he is the Marysville Globe-Arlington Times Athlete of the week.

“The state championship was the frosting on the cake; the cherry on top of that was Ruben’s title.” coach Rick Iversen said.

Azariah took second in the 160-pound weight class. He won his previous matches by pin, but lost to Edmonds-Woodway’s Mason McDaniel 7-3 in the final.

Though Azariah fell short, having his twin win was gratifying.

“It’s cool because it’s almost like me winning,” Azariah said. “It just helped numb the pain in me taking second.”

Ruben likewise owes a great degree of his success to his brother.

“We were always different weight classes, but it’s always nice to have a partner to wrestle with no matter what,” he said. “I honestly wouldn’t be this good if I was just alone.”

“It’s like having a wrestling partner,” Azariah said. “And since we know exactly what the other is going to do, you have to do it that much better.”

Iversen was pleased to see Ruben take the state title, and also the vicarious emotion Azariah displayed.

“That was my great moment at state was looking over and seeing Azariah in tears so happy for his brother’s win,” Iversen said. “It had nothing to do with his loss — just happy for his brother.”

Ruben lost the finals last year as a junior, having missed most of his junior season because of ineligibility after transferring from Lake Stevens.

“It was just a sweet return to the finals for him,” Iversen said. “Last year, he kind of slipped into the finals and took second to the outstanding wrestler in the state.”

Azariah didn’t wrestle for two years, but watching his brother wrestle inspired him to come back out his senior year.

“If he does something, I’ll do it to,” Azariah said.

Ruden had to endure some tough matches before getting to the finals.

“He [Ruben], had a tough weight class,” Iversen said. “But once he got there, he dominated that finals match, and that was pretty cool.”

Ruben was a little sick his first day of the tournament.

“It started out kind of rough — I was sick and had some close matches,” Ruben said. “It was kind of scary. In my quarterfinals match I was losing and then I came up.”

He was fueled by his team’s success, which helped him along the next day.

“I was excited the team was doing so well,” Ruben said.

Overall, the Crews were pleased in the team winning the school’s first wrestling title.

“I like that even though wrestling is an individual sport, you still get really close to your fellow teammates,” Ruben said.