Mountlake Terrace coach Grant Thompson was able to do something that no other coach did at the Wesco 3A South Sub-Regional wrestling tournament: He was able to sit back and relax during two of his finals matches.

The Hawks advanced both finalists in the 120- and 152-pound championship matches Saturday at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.

Taylor Hetherington won an 8-3 decision over Gene Ahn in the 120 finals and Daniil Oliferovskiiy beat Sean Poole 4-1 in the 152 finals. Mountlake Terrace (217.5 points) finished second in the team competition behind champion Glacier Peak (342).

“I’m real proud of this program,” Thompson said. “We’ve placed in the top five in every tournament we’ve been to this year.”

Perhaps the match of the tournament for Mountlake Terrace was Syd Springberg’s pin of Glacier Peak’s Marcus Becerra at 3:15 in the 182 finals. Springberg has wrestled at 170 for most of the season.

Thompson and his staff decided to bump him up a weight class, in part because they didn’t want Springberg to have to cut weight. Going into the Sub-Regional tournament, the Hawks weren’t exactly sure what was going to happen, but everyone was all smiles afterwards.

“That is the best I’ve seen Syd wrestle all year,” Thompson said. “He was ahead 11-0 and then he pinned him in the second round.

“For a match, it was flawless. It was absolutely perfect. He took everything we’ve worked on all year and put it together in one match.”

In the 138 finals, Glacier Peak’s Ethan Barr edged Mountlake Terrace’s Taron Castleton 3-2.

Meadowdale’s Ciaran Ball defeated Mountlake Terrace’s Brett Potter 10-2 in the 195 finals. In last year’s Sub-Regional finals, Ball beat Potter 17-1.

The top two finishers automatically advance to next week’s regional tournament at Glacier Peak High School.

“Second in districts. I’m pretty happy with that,” Thompson said. “Seven total (qualify for regionals). Two regional alternates. Nine total. Three District champions.

“It was an impressive performance.”

— Story and photos by David Pan