Lake Stevens champs

It wasn’t your father’s Tri-State wrestling tournament.

With the 37th annual tourney scaled back because of the record snowfall in the region this week, the tournament was about half as tough as normal.

It was tough enough as far as two-time Washington State 4A champ Lake Stevens was concerned, though. Three Vikings won individual titles as Lake Stevens captured its fourth Tri-State championship with 206.5 points Saturday, 20 more than defending champ Flathead of Kalispell, Mont., at North Idaho College’s Christianson Gym.

Two teams that finished in the top 10 last year – including two-time Oregon 5A champ Hermiston and Lewiston – were among 17 teams that skipped the tourney. The field included 34 teams, down from 51 a year ago.

Deer Park, the reigning Washington State 2A champ, took third with 145 points and Moses Lake was fourth (139.5). Riverside (116) took sixth, followed by University (110.5), Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls (105) and East Valley (98). Post Falls (83) was the highest-placing North Idaho team (11th).

Lake Stevens, located north of Seattle, anticipated the poor weather by making contingency travel plans. The Vikings weren’t allowed to use school vehicles, but officials allowed them to travel if their parents signed releases.

“We had all of our guys here,” LS coach Brent Barnes said. “To come and be able to (win) is pretty cool. They understand how prestigious the Tri-State tournament is. They understood how good Flathead is, too. We scored in double digits in seven weights. Not saying that we would have won anyway (if all the teams had come), but it sure bodes well for us. I know Hermiston would have been very tough.”

Hermiston captured the Inland Empire Classic at Central Valley last weekend for a third straight year.

The Lauderdale brothers of Lakeside captured individual titles. Senior Jacob Lauderdale, who was competing in arguably the toughest weight class at 125 pounds, was named the tourney’s outstanding wrestler. He shut out Shawn Lau of Flathead, a Tri-State runner-up last year, 4-0.

Moments later, Josh Lauderdale, a sophomore, used a takedown with 7 seconds left to knock off Justin Hodge of Riverside 10-8 at 130.

A two-time state champ, Jacob Lauderdale counted a Tri-State title near the top of his goals this season.

“I’ve been chasing this since my freshman year,” he said. “I wanted to get a name for myself because this is a prestigious tournament. You win at Tri-State it’s a lot more difficult than winning a state title because you’ve got the top wrestlers from four or five states here. Then you’ve got 4A, 1A, 2A, 3A – every A and B – here. So you win here you get bragging rights for a little bit.”

Jacob Lauderdale (13-0 overall) scored a takedown with 30 seconds left in the first period. Then he rode Lau hard for two scoreless minutes in the second period before getting a reversal late in the final period.

He moved into the finals after an impressive 8-0 win over defending Tri-State champ Kyle McCrite of Lakeland. McCrite won and was named outstanding wrestler at CV last weekend.

Big brother had no problem sharing the spotlight with little brother.

“He’s a tough, tough kid, and if I’m not at my best at practice he’s all over me,” Jacob said. “I know he’s going to be a better wrestler than I am. He pounded his way through this tournament.”

A pair of North Idaho wrestlers faced off at 103 where Garrett Belgarde of Sandpoint pinned Chad Booth of Post Falls in 3:16.

At 135, Scott Bacon of Republic topped Tyler Lamb of Tahoma 11-6.

Lakeland’s Brandon Richardson became the fourth Hawk in as many years to capture a title. He held off J.J. Gubler of Republic 5-3 at 140.

In an action-filled tussle at 160, Jacob Mason of University got a takedown in overtime to stop Brandon Leliefeld of DP 8-6.

At 171, John Mericle of Moscow got a takedown at the buzzer to edge Dustin Johnson of U-Hi 5-4.

In other title matches, Josh Heinzer of LS won by major decision (16-2) over Blake Adams of DP at 112; Jack Stillwell of LS shut out Bryan Baumgarden of Lakeside 5-0 at 119; Chris Tripplett of EV downed Thomas Pfeiffer of Moses Lake 9-4 at 145; in perhaps a preview of a Washington State 4A final, defending state champ George King of LS edged past Sam Villegas of Moses Lake 6-5 at 152; Jake Swartz of Auburn topped Dakota Lawson of EV 7-0 at 189; and Grant Haschak of Lake Washington scored a 9-2 decision over Konner Knudston of Tahoma at 215.