Skyline Spartans crowned wrestling champs
February 5, 2013
Not only are the Skyline High School Spartans the KingCo 4A champions but seven of their wrestlers are individual district champions as well.
At the KingCo 4A Championships Feb. 2, the Spartans won with 229 team points. Issaquah came in second with 209 points.
“Having eight in the finals and seven champs was something certainly very, very special,” Skyline coach Gus Kiss said.
Local high school wrestling / Jan. 15-17, 2013
January 23, 2013
Skyline High School wrestlers grapple with perfection
January 22, 2013
Boden Longmore, Skyline High School freshman, keeps Ballard’s Kristjan Sigmar in trouble throughout their 152-pound match Jan. 17, collecting 16 points to win by technical fall. By Lillian O’Rorke
Despite never having a full roster, the Skyline High School wrestling team secured a perfect dual meet record Jan. 17, when it defeated the Ballard Beavers, 45-18, to clinch a 10-0 season.
“Throughout the season, we’ve been giving up anywhere from 6 to 30 points because of forfeits,” coach Gus Kiss said. “It’s adversity, and they persevered. They wrestled well through it.”
That night, the two teams wrestled as many matches as they gave up. The Skyline Spartans forfeited both the 182 and 285 weight classes, giving up 12 points to Ballard.
The Beavers’ take would have been twice that if not for the double-forfeits at 170 and 195. Skyline also gained 18 points when Ballard forfeited the three lightest weight classes.
Skyline High School wrestlers win Sammamish Plateau faceoff
December 11, 2012
In a match Dec. 6 where there were just as many pins as decision wins and even more forfeits, the Skyline High School Spartans beat the Eastlake Wolves, 40-30.
“We brought some intensity. Eastlake stepped up,” Skyline coach Gus Kiss said. “Our kids still had to step up and we did.”
The Spartans gave up 24 points in forfeits at 170, 180 and the top two heavyweights, but received one forfeit at 106.
Skyline racked up three pins, all within the first period of the match. In the 113 weight class, Nathan Swanson won in 1 minute, 32 seconds. At 120, Kody Nguyen pinned his opponent in 31 seconds.
Skyline High School wrestling struggles to fill top of roster
November 27, 2012
With 32 athletes already signed up and several returning state qualifiers, the Skyline High School wrestling team is hopeful as it continues to hunt for a heavyweight competitor to complete the lineup.
“We are strongly optimistic. We have a good bunch of returning young men and we have some good athletes that are turning out,” coach Gus Kiss said.
The Skyline Spartans finished 7-3 last year in KingCo dual meets and qualified four wrestlers for the State Mat Classic, including Kara Alden. The team’s only female went on to become the team’s top finisher after taking sixth place in the 145-pound girls division. She returns this year as a junior.
Skyline High School sophomore wrestles her way to state
June 5, 2012
Skyline High School sophomore Kara Alden wrestles Dec. 1, 2011, in a match against a wrestler from Issaquah High School. By Debbie Alden
For Skyline High School sophomore Kara Alden, it’s not that she’s a girl participating in a sport dominated by guys or that she’s the only female on a male wrestling team. Rather, it’s the fact that her desire to compete and her passion for the sport have allowed her to succeed despite a lack of experience and physical disadvantages.
“Wrestling guys is harder as a girl since we don’t have as much muscle mass as they do,” Kara said. “You have to have really perfected technique to do well against a guy.”
On a daily basis and throughout the season, she faces adversity in the form of her male opponents. At practice and during dual meets, her options are often limited to wrestling just guys, unless it’s the postseason.
But for Kara, the option to wrestle both guys and girls presents a unique catch-22. Facing girls means a higher probability of winning. Wrestling guys, however, is where she can gain the most experience and learn technical moves she wouldn’t otherwise be afforded.
Liberty wrestler Hamilton Noel finishes sixth at Mat Classic
February 21, 2012
When the last chapter closed on the 2012 Mat Classic, all it said about Hamilton Noel’s performance was that the Liberty High School senior finished sixth in the 160-pound division at the Class 3A Tournament.
Not a word about his heart, of which he displayed plenty in the Tacoma Dome. Not a comma about his tears, of which there were also a few. Not a period about how he stepped on the mat weakened by an unspecified ailment that made him look almost nothing like the Noel that dominated at Regionals.
At the end, the fact that Mercer Island’s Blake Johnson, the wrestler who won 160-pound state title was the same Noel defeated at the regional finals seven days earlier, seemed to do nothing but add insult to an already injured warrior.
Eagles achieve goal of winning wrestling KingCo Conference 4A tournament title
February 7, 2012
Issaquah High School wrestlers, coaches and team managers howl as they pose for photos after winning the KingCo 4A Tournament team championship Feb. 4. Winning this title with these athletes during wrestling’s 50th anniversary at Issaquah ‘is something I’ll always remember,’ said coach Kirk Hyatt (kneeling second from left).By Greg Farrar
Issaquah High School wrestling coach Kirk Hyatt had a hunch entering this season that his team had championship talent.
Skyline High School wrestlers pound Newport
January 17, 2012
Skyline was too powerful for Newport Jan. 11 as the Spartans recorded a 71-9 KingCo Conference 4A victory.
Nathan Swanson (106), Justin Manipis (113), Tristan Steciw (120), Jo Tono (126), Joey Gurke (132), Tyler White (138), Christian Caldwell (145), Ian Crouch (152), Cyrus Sarkosh (182), Kyle Nardon (195) and Sean McAlhaney (220) all had pins for Skyline. Douglas Lawson (170) won his match with a technical fall.
On Jan. 14, the Spartans finished first at the Auburn Mountainview Tournament of Champions. Skyline had 165.5 points. Curtis was second with 140.
Crouch won the 152-pound class by pinning Elijah Camacho, of River Ridge, in the title match.
Manipis was second in the 113-pound class. Steciw was runnerup in the 120-pound division. Michael Mecham took second in the 160-pound class.
Issaquah wrestlers entertain alumni with two wins
January 12, 2012
NEW — 3:10 p.m. Jan. 12, 2012
The Issaquah High School wrestling program, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, gave its alumni a lot to cheer about Jan. 11 when the Eagles defeated two visiting teams in KingCo Conference 4A action.
On Alumni Night, Issaquah overwhelmed Garfield 66-12 and downed Woodinville 54-24.
In the Garfield match, Torre Eaton (106), Jordan Hamilton (113), Louden Ivey (120), Max Tickman (126), Almen Thorpe (132), Jerdon Helgeson (138), Joe Tonnemaker (145), and Tucker Brumley (170) all had pins for Issaquah.
In the Woodinville match, Spencer Tickman (106), Thorpe, Taylor Evans (152), Andrew Ramirez (170) and Matt Solusod (220) registered pins for the Eagles. Tonnemaker won his match by a technical fall and Helgeson won with a major decision.
