A great day for Shorewood wrestling teams

Top row: Libby Norton, Kiana Yoshimura, Fiona Blair and Abby Tveit. 
Front: Coaches Brady Houck, Clark Norton and Zach Matthews

By Clark Norton

All photos courtesy Shorewood Wrestling

It was a great day for both Shorewood's Boys and Girls wrestling teams on Saturday, February 12, 2022.

Kiana Yoshimura, 5th place 190lbs

While the boys were competing at the 3A Region 3 tournament at Foss High School in Tacoma, the girls competed in the Girls Region 1 tournament at Sedro-Woolley High School.

Abby Tveit, 6th place 120lbs

The girls team took three regional qualifiers and got a bonus when 120lb alternate Abby Tveit got into the event due to a girl from Arlington not being able to participate. Tveit was the first Stormray to actually wrestle and tossed her opponent straight from her feet to her back for a pin in just 26 seconds.

Fiona Blair, 5th Place 110lbs

The rest of the tournament was far more nerve-racking as all four girls lost in the quarterfinals, sending them into the loser-goes-home consolation brackets. In an awesome show of grit, determination, and will to survive, the team went a combined nine and one (9-1!!!) in must-win matches. 

Libby Norton, 5th Place 110lbs

100lb Freshman Libby Norton, 110lb Junior Fiona Blair, and 190lb Junior Kiana Yoshimura all punched through to the Mat Classic with 5th place finishes, while 120lb Junior Abby Tveit came up just short and placed 6th to be an alternate to state.

This is the first time Shorewood has ever sent more than one girl to the state tournament. As a team the group placed 17th out of the 48 schools in the tournament.

While the girls were giving their all at Sedro the boys were one hundred miles south at Foss High School. Although not as anxiety-producing as the girls, the boys showed an immense amount of heart and determination. 

Quincy Laflin, 4th Place 126lbs

Senior Quincy Laflin recovered from a heart-breaking one point loss in the semifinals to rally and take fourth place at 126lbs.

Isaac VanHorn, 5th place 145lbs

Junior Isaac VanHorn also lost in the semifinals, and then lost again in the consolation semifinals to put himself into a winner-to-state match for 5th place where he pulled out a huge second round pin to earn his ticket to state.

Milan Johnson, 3rd Place 285lbs

Junior Milan Johnson was the surprise of the weekend as he upset three different wrestlers seeded higher than him. In his final match he faced a Bonney Lake wrestler who had pinned him in the first round just three weeks ago. Johnson got a takedown in sudden death overtime to avenge the loss and take 3rd place. 

Hunter Tibodeau, 1st Place 195lbs

The final Shorewood wrestler of the day was Hunter Tibodeau at 195 pounds. When Tibodeau stepped on the mat for his final match at 8pm it was ten hours after the tournament had begun. It was an exclamation point of a match as Tibodeau dominated from start to finish, improving his season record to 22-1, and claiming his first Regional Championship with an 8-1 victory.

 Isaac VanHorn, Hunter Tibodeau, Quincy Laflin and Milan Johnson

Both teams wrestle next this Friday and Saturday in Mat Classic XXXIII at the Tacoma Dome.Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 10am on both days.