Rebels beat tough KingCo season

The young Juanita wrestling team has navigated through a tough KingCo schedule to post a strong season.

February 4, 2009 8:23 pm
Lake Washington's Grant Haschak (right) wrestles Juanita's Stefan Kiehn during a match at Redmond High School on Jan. 29.
Lake Washington's Grant Haschak (right) wrestles Juanita's Stefan Kiehn during a match at Redmond High School on Jan. 29.

The young Juanita wrestling team has navigated through a tough KingCo schedule to post a strong season.

Over half of the Rebel wrestlers this season are sophomores, but it’s senior Jake Brown that has been the standout.

Brown wrestled at state last year and looks to get back there this season. Brown wrestles at 125 and 119 pounds. He’s a combined 11-2 this season, with five pins.

Brown won the 125-pound weight class at the Brian Hill Invitational Tournament on Dec. 27. He finished second at the Tahoma Mat Classic Jan. 24, losing to Efrain Aguilar of Graham Kapowsin.

Cody Treddenbarger is 11-0 at 285 pounds. He’s pinned eight opponents. Treddenbarger won the Tahoma Mat Classic and the Brian Hill Invitational.

Jeremiah Laufasa is 8-3 on the season, wrestling mostly at 189 pounds. Laufasa wrestled at 215 pounds the first two competitions of the season. He has four pins on the season.

At 135 pounds, Aaron St. Martin is 7-3 on the season. St. Martin has won and lost all of his matches by either decision, major decision or technical fall.

Other Rebels with impressive records are Logan McCallum at 160 and 171 pounds (7-4), Marc Skiles at 112, 119 and 125 pounds (7-4), and Jonathan Iwazaki at 112 pounds (6-4).

Juanita has faced mostly 4A competition through the regular season, but the Rebels will see 3A opponents in the playoffs.

The KingCo 3A tournament is Feb. 7 at Liberty High School. The first three finishers in each weight division at the KingCo tournament will qualify for the Region I tournament at West Seattle High School Feb. 14.

The top four finishers at the regional tournament will qualify for the state tournament at the Tacoma Dome Feb. 20-21.

While Juanita and Lake Washington have both wrestled at the same tournaments multiple times this season, they had a head-to-head showdown Jan. 29 and the Kangs came out on top 42-32.

Iwazaki (112 pounds), Brown (125), St. Martin (135), Matt Skurnik (152), Laufasa (189) and Treddenbarger (285) won for the Rebels.

Joel Navas (119), Joel Gonzales (130), Zach Chrysanthou (140), Dylan Ullery (145), Eric Cook (160), Alex Gonzales (171) and Grant Haschak (215) won for the Kangs.