Four Wrestlers From Juanita, Lake Washington, Bring Home Mat Classic Medals

Juanita brought only two wrestlers to the Mat Classic, but both went home with some hardware after placing on the second day of the state championships Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.

Logan McCallum finished up sixth in the 3A 171-pound division. McCallum advanced to the semifinals on Friday after two quick wins, but stumbled against increased competition on the second day.

McCallum was pinned in the 5/6 match by Yaroslav Petrechko of Lake Washington after losing in the semifinal round to Lucas Huyber of Auburn Mountainview and also to Sam Rykken of North Central in the consolation bracket. McCallum drew praise from the coaching staff for the effort he put into his top-6 finish.

“We call him ‘Vision Quest’ because he works unbelievably hard,” head coach Jerad Jennings said of McCallum.

Jeremiah Laufasa advanced all the way to the championship match of the 285-pound division, despite giving up almost 40 pounds to most of his competitors. Laufasa relied on his impressive technique early in the tournament, winning all of his three first matches via points.

In the finals, the future Central Washington football player fell behind early and could not make up for the size disparity between he and his opponent, ultimately losing 7-3 to Josh Mitchell of Mount Si. Laufasa was visibly disappointed after the match, but his coach said he was proud of his effort.

“He’s got the heart of a champion,” Jennings said of Laufasa. 

Lake Washington also placed two wrestlers. Petrechko finished fifth after taking out McCallum and Jack Michels took fourth in the 215-pound division. Michels started the day with a loss in the semifinals to Jake Laden of University.

Enumclaw pulled out the 3A team title in dramatic fashion, taking home the top team spot for the third time in four years.

A year after losing out on the team title in its final two matches of the tournament, the Hornets were anchored by the two wrestlers who came up just short last year.

Josh Musick and Kario Wallin each won titles the year after finishing second in their weight classes. Musick’s loss last year knocked Enumclaw out of team title contention, a fact that he said stayed with him for nearly a year since.

“It stayed with me for about a year,”  Musick said of the loss. “Until I watched the video of that finals.”

Aided by a desire to avoid the frustration of 2010, Musick pulled out a 6-2 victory over Hamilton Noel of Liberty (Issaquah). The win came after sophomore Lucas Somera got things started for Enumclaw with a title in the 135-pound weight division. Musick’s victory assured at least a share of the team title for Enumclaw and Wallin locked it up for the hornets, pinning Connor Boyce 1:29 into the second period.

“They’ve worked hard all season long,” coach Lee Reichert said. “I put them through the toughest schedule I could put them through and they just continued to get better. I’m so proud of these guys.

University finished second in the 3A division with 129.5 points after playing catch-up to Enumclaw since the start of the tournament.  The Titans had a shot at the team title heading into the championship round, but Enumclaw’s champions made sure University never got any closer than second.

Kelso was a distant third with 100.5 points, followed by Yelm with 95 points and North Central with 82 points.