Bellevue High School wrestlers made a statement to the rest of KingCo 3A on Saturday, a proclamation that hadn’t been made in more than 30 years: the Wolverines are for real.
Nine different Bellevue grapplers made their way to the championship match and the Wolverines wrapped up their first KingCo title since 1977 before the finals even took place Saturday at Liberty High School.
Bellevue scored 246 points and four Wolverines won titles en route to a 50-point victory over second-place finisher Mercer Island.
Matt Casimes got Bellevue off to a good start in the finals, capturing the 103-pound title with a victory over Dan Velasquez of Liberty. Casimes, a sophomore, pinned Velasquez at the 3:13 mark after falling behind 4-0.
“Once I realized I was down by four points, I realized I needed to pick it up,” Casimes said. “Winning KingCo was my goal at the beginning of the year and it was our team’s goal at the beginning of the year. We accomplished it by working hard.”
Bellevue also crowned champions in Matt Verstegen (130-pounds), Erik Ovens (152-pounds) and Davis Jones, who finished second in KingCo last year before returning to take the 135-pound title over Liberty freshman Hamilton Noel in a bloody bout.
Jones scored a near-fall on Noel before blood time was called. After a second stoppage, Jones had his face wrapped with tape to stop the blood flow and managed to hold out for a 12-10 victory.
Afterward, Jones could only speak to the success of his team.
“It’s the start of a new era for Bellevue wrestling,” he said. “We’re sick of losing.”
Sammamish’s Cameron Akana won the 215-pound weight class and teammate Sam Bloomsberg finished second in the 125-pound class.
Bellevue saw second-place finishers in Aki Chinen, who failed to repeat as a KingCo champion at 119-pounds, Josh Speizle (112), Alex Murphy (145), Derrick Mychaylo (160) and Will Fields (171).
The top-three wrestlers from each weight class advance to this weekend’s regional championship at West Seattle High School. Bellevue’s Carter Steinhoff (103), David Altomare (189) and Jin Park all finished third and will move on.
Bellevue’s 12 regional qualifiers is double last year’s total, when the Wolverines sent six wrestlers on.
“Taking nine guys to the finals is phenomenal, it just shows how hard the kids have worked,” said Bellevue coach Tom Ovens. “It’s the work ethic in the room and in the offseason. Hard work brings these kids of successes.”
Elsewhere
Interlake wrestlers took third place in the Nisqually League Tournament in their first year of 2A competition. Interlake’s Preston Mui won the 103-pound class with a pin of Eatonville’s Steve Martin in 1:41. Ryuji Kawashima won the 112-pound class and Christian Schultz won the 145-pound class. Frank Silva took second in the 171-pound class and Andy Agus finished second at 189. Five Saints finished in third place.
In KingCo 4A, Newport finished eighth with 88.5 points and will send Kevin McCanta, Ian Case, Winston Chen and Carl Sangalang to regionals. Woodinville won the team title with 254 points.
