Published: Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Small guys, big win

Led by its lightweights, Snohomish beats Everett

SNOHOMISH - Two matches remained Monday night, and Snoh= omish needed some late heroics to avoid falling from the lead pack in the Western Conference wrestling race.

The Panthers trailed Everett by six points and were staring squarely at thi= rd place in the standings. If nothing changed, Everett would remain undefeated= to set up a winner-take-all meet against Lake Stevens for the title on Thursday.
Then, the smallest wrestlers made the biggest difference for Snohomish.

Freshman Eric Kalmey pinned his opponent at 103 pounds to force a tie in the team score, and senior Paul Thier won by pin at 112 pounds in the final match of the meet, giving Snohomish a 35-29 victory.

The victory left both Snohomish and Everett with 6-1 records in the confere= nce (and both 7-1 overall) going into the final regular-season meets. Everett, = despite losing Monday, hosts undefeated Lake Stevens on Thursday and, with a victor= y, can leave the final standings in a three-way tie at the top among Lake Stev= ens, Everett and Snohomish.

"Lake thumped us pretty good last week and they're a solid team, but s= o is Everett," Snohomish coach Kevin Judkins sa= id. "Everett might line up against them a little better than we did, so you never know. You've still got to wrestle them."

That was never so true than late in Monday's meet, when Everett plowed thro= ugh the upper weight divisions with four straight victories - including a pin by undefeated Parker Burns at 215 pounds - and took a 29-23 lead in the team score.

With two matches remaining, Snohomish needed decisions in both to force a t= ie, and at least one by pin or major decision to win the meet.

That's where Kalmey, a freshman wrestling again= st sophomore Mike Bearer, came up big in the 103-pound match. He scored a two-point reversal to tie the score 2-2, then pinned Bearer with 40.5 secon= ds remaining in the first period.

The pin gave Snohomish six team points, tying the score 29-29.

"We knew that 103 was going to be the tossup match, and we got it done there," Judkins = said. "Then we kind of outgunned them at 112 because we had a senior there."

Thier gave Snohomish the victory when he took d= own Everett freshman Josh Anderson, then pinned him with 53.7 seconds remaining= in the first period of the 112-pound match.

The light and middle-weight wrestlers made the difference for Snohomish.

Besides their late victories at 103 and 112 pounds, freshman Luke Perry sta= rted the meet with a pin at 119 pounds.

Snohomish also won three straight when sophomore Stefan St. Marie won by pi= n at 135, senior Troy Walker by decision at 140 and senior Kyle Hurd by major decision at 145. Walker, who usually wrestles at 135, raised his record to 24-2. Snohomish took a 23-12 lead in the team score when junior Richard Reed scored a major decision at 160 pounds.

Then Everett's upper weight wrestlers showed their strength.

Junior Nick Salsbury recorded a 15-1 major deci= sion at 171 pounds, junior Jake Anstett a 6-0 decisi= on at 189, Burns a pin at 215 to raise his record to 19-0, and John Raby a 9-1 major decision at 285 that gave him a 22-3 record.

More importantly, it put Everett ahead 29-23 in = the team score, and the Seagulls needed to win one of the final two matches to = win the meet.

It didn't happen, and the Seagulls suffered their first loss of the season.=

"You win some and lose some, and you can't do anything about that,&quo= t; Everett coach Brien Elliott said. "Snohomi= sh wrestled well and you've got to give them credit. We didn't get it done whe= re we needed to."

At Snohomish High School

119-Luke Perry (Snohomish) pinned Reagan Beal, 40.6 seconds remaining in fi= rst round; 125-Johnny Kuehn (Everett) pinned Josh Sykes, 50.9 seconds remaining= in first round; 130-Matt Beck (Everett) def. Brad Perry 5-4; 135-Stefan St. Ma= rie (Snohomish) pinned Colby Hudson, 1:33 remaining in second round; 140-Troy Walker (Snohomish) def. Ron Covert 6-0; 145-Kyle Hurd<= /span> (Snohomish) def. Laban Crook 11-3; 152-Cole And= erson (Everett) def. Tyler Jackson 6-3; 160-Richard Reed (Snohomish) def. Taylor Boyce 12-4; 171-Nick Salsbury (Everett) def. Jo= hn Kopet 15-1; 189-Jake Anstett (Everett) def. Spencer Caraballo 6-0; 215-Parker Burns (Everett) pinned Derek Britton, 1:15 remaining in second round; 285-J= ohn Raby (Everett) def. Jake Reinhar= d 9-1; 103-Eric Kalmey (Snohomish) pinned Mike Be= arer, 40.5 seconds remaining in first round; 112-Paul Their (Snohomish) pinned Jo= sh Anderson, 53.7 seconds remaining in first round. Record= s-Snohomish 6-1 Western Conference North, 7-1 overall; Everett 6-1 Wesco North, 7-1 overall.