Prep boys wrestling: Hawks beat Royals in battle for a new trophy — the Griffin Goblet

Mountlake Terrace Hawks’ wrestling coach Jahleel Vester points to the Griffin Goblet, a new trophy to be awarded to the winner of the Terrace – Lynnwood wrestling dual match each year. The Hawks won the inaugural Battle for the Griffin Goblet 56-23, Thursday at Mountlake Terrace High School.

In the inaugural Battle for the Griffin Goblet, it was the Mountlake Terrace Hawks that came out on top to claim the new trophy.

The Hawks defeated the Lynnwood Royals 56-23 in their Wesco League dual wrestling meet held Thursday night at Mountlake Terrace High School. The victory not only lifted Terrace’s 2A/3A South Conference record this season to 4-1, 5-1 overall, but gave the squad the right to hold the Griffin Goblet for the next year.

Lynnwood’s Eric Ly (top) controls his opponent in the 132-lb. weight division, Mountlake Terrace’s Luke Swanson, during the Royals-Hawks Battle for the Griffin Goblet.
Lynnwood coach Tedoshi Myers (left) talks to his 165-lb. weight division wrestler Malik Tunkara during a break in the action.

The new trophy is the brainchild of the wrestling coaches at Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood High Schools, Jahleel Vester and Tedoshi Myers respectively. The coaches wanted to recognize the rivalry between the two schools’ wrestling programs and award the winner of their annual clash with some hardware.

“I came up with the Griffin and then he (Myers) came up with the goblet for the alliteration,” explained Vester. “So together we came up with the Griffin Goblet.”

Lynnwood’s Edward Lim (left) and Terrace’s Alex Moodie each look to gain the upper hand in their 120-lb. weight division bout.
Mountlake Terrace’s Elijah Swett (left) and Lynnwood’s Hidalgo Bautista faceoff in the 190-lb. weight class.
Lynnwood’s Gabriel Robbins (bottom) grimaces under the weight of Terrace’s Abdul Najib in their 150-lb. weight class matchup.
Terrace’s Wyatt Bills (right) tries to escape the clutches of Lynnwood’s Isaac Popich in their 175-lb. weight division bout.

In Greek mythology, a griffin is a creature with the body and legs of a lion and the head of an eagle. “It’s kind of like both of our mascots just joined together,” Vester noted.

Vester said the Griffin Goblet will reside in Terrace’s wrestling room for the next 12 months but will be contested again when the two teams meet during the 2025-2026 wrestling season — and will be up for grabs each year thereafter. And while he hopes his Hawks will prevail in the yearly dual with Lynnwood often during his tenure as coach, he also hopes the cup will see plenty of time over at Lynnwood High School also.

The Hawks-Royals wrestling dual match on Thursday was the first to be staged at Mountlake Terrace High School in a darkened gym under a new spotlight hanging from the rafters.

“Now we’ve got something that can be passed back and forth between our communities,” Vester said. “I hope this thing is going back-and-forth for the next 50 years.”

“Hopefully it’s a fun tradition that the community can get into.” Vester added.

Prep Boys Wrestling: Lynnwood at Mountlake Terrace, Jan. 16

Mountlake Terrace 56 – Lynnwood 23

Individual results:

106 – Frank Guzman (Terrace) win by forfeit

113 – Cooper Towne (Terrace) over Dylan Por (Lynnwood) by decision, 10-3

120 – Alex Moodie (Terrace) over Edward Lim (Lynnwood) by pinfall, 3:18

126 – Akif Yilmaz (Terrace) win by forfeit

132 – Eric Ly (Lynnwood) over Luke Swenson (Terrace) by technical fall, 15-0

138 – Jared Sum (Lynnwood) over EKansh Verma (Terrace) by pinfall, 1:53

144 – Bryson Le (Lynnwood) over Wyatt Hawkins (Terrace) by pinfall, 2:22

150 – Abdul Najib (Terrace) over Gabriel Robbins (Lynnwood) by pinfall, 2:54

157 – Isaac Williams (Terrace) over Landon Stull (Lynnwood) by pinfall, 3:17

165 – Titus Swett (Terrace) over Malik Tunkara (Lynnwood) by pinfall, 5:46

175 – Isaac Popich (Lynnwood) over Wyatt Bills (Terrace) by pinfall, 1:49

190 – Elijah Swett (Terrace) over Hidalgo Bautista (Lynnwood) by pinfall, 3:11

215 – Logan Armstrong (Terrace) over Jackson Mueller (Lynnwood) by technical fall, 18-0

285 – Ryan Pineda (Terrace) over Korbin Burris (Lynnwood) by pinfall, :56

Dual meet records: Mountlake Terrace 4-1 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 5-1 overall; Lynnwood 2-3 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 3-4 overall

Mountlake Terrace next match: at the Justice For All Tournament; Saturday, Jan. 18; 8 a.m. at Issaquah High School

Lynnwood next match: at the Wolverine Scuffle; Saturday, Jan. 18; 9 a.m. at Bellevue High School

— Story and photos by Doug Petrowski

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