TACOMA — Two days, four matches, four pins and a coveted spot atop the podium.
Yep, it was a pretty awesome weekend for Steven Walkley.
A year after finishing second at the state tournament, Lake Stevens High School’s Walkley pinned his way through the Class 4A 140-pound bracket during Mat Classic XXIII, the high school state wrestling championships at the Tacoma Dome.
Walkley, an unusually strong, agile junior, pinned two opponents on Friday and tallied two more falls on Saturday, the final pressure-packed day of Mat Classic. In the 140 finals, the top-ranked Walkley came out extremely aggressive and pinned Edmonds-Woodway senior Mac Hutchison in 1 minute, 19 seconds.
“I just came on a mission, I guess,” said Walkley, who also beat the second-ranked Hutchison at district and regional tournaments this month.
“I knew Steven had it in him,” Lake Stevens coach Brent Barnes said, “but you never know what’s going to happen (at state) with nerves and emotions. You know he’s talented enough to do it but you never know, so it’s great that he went out and performed like a champ.”
Along the way, Walkley helped No. 1-ranked Lake Stevens win the 4A team title. The Vikings scored 129.5 points, 10.5 points more than second-place Moses Lake. Lake Stevens clinched it after the 145-pound final when Mead’s Chandler Rogers pinned Moses Lake’s Nico Moreno.
Walkley was Lake Stevens’ only individual champ, but the Vikings had seven other top-6 placers: Jesse Peterson (runnerup, 103 pounds), Ryan Rodorigo (third, 119 pounds), Eric Soler (fourth, 112 pounds), Andrew King (fourth, 152 pounds), Kinsey Johnson (fifth, 135 pounds), Jack Reeves (sixth, 145 pounds) and Cody Schlosser (sixth, 285 pounds).
It’s the fifth 4A team championship for Lake Stevens since 2004 and the program’s eighth state team title (including 4A and 3A crowns) since 1990. This year’s team triumph, said Barnes, is especially meaningful for Rodorigo, King, Reeves and Schlosser, the Vikings’ seniors.
“Our seniors have just plugged away in the program for the last four years and done everything that we’ve asked them to do,” Barnes said.
Walkley, a junior, missed most of the season because he was academically ineligible. Although he was allowed to train with the team, he couldn’t compete in matches until he improved his grades.
“He’s just now getting into decent shape — probably not as good as he could be, but good enough,” Barnes said. “Steven’s put a lot of time into this sport and he’s incredibly talented. You can’t coach a lot of the stuff that he does.”
The other 4A individual champions from local schools were Edmonds-Woodway senior Ryan DeWeese (130 pounds) and Mariner senior Alex Coffman (160 pounds). A state runnerup last year, DeWeese dominated Skyview’s Clint Powers in the 130 final and won 19-6. It was a rematch of the Region 1 championship match, which DeWeese won 6-4 in overtime.
DeWeese, who performed a celebratory backward somersault after his win on Saturday, is the first Edmonds-Woodway state wrestling champ since the school opened in 1990, E-W coach Joe Trieu said.
DeWeese, Andrew Vulliet (third, 112 pounds) and Hutchison, the 140-pound runnerup, helped E-W (72.5 points) finish eighth in the team standings.
Mariner’s Coffman is his school’s first state wrestling champion since Jared Wright won the 4A 145-pound title in 2000. Coffman, ranked No. 1, beat Moses Lake sophomore Jonathan Perales 12-5 in the 160 final. Leading 4-3 early in the third period, Coffman scored five points with a powerful takedown and near-fall that propelled him to victory.
Last year at state Coffman lost his first two matches and was eliminated. This time, wiser and more confident, he maneuvered through the entire bracket. His toughest test was in the semifinals, where he beat second-ranked Sam Voigtlander of Mead 4-3.
“I want to soak this up as long as I can,” Coffman, whose 18th birthday is on Tuesday, said after winning the 160 final, “because nobody can take it away from me now.”
Also in the 4A tournament, Snohomish’s Morrill brothers both earned top-5 placings. Mark Morrill, a senior, placed fourth in the 189-pound division and Ammon Morrill, a junior, took fifth in the 152-pound division.
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam and follow Cane on Twitter at MikeCaneHerald.
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