Ravens rule the mat

He spread his arms and raced around the gym toward the exit.

It was a fleeting moment of happiness for Auburn Riverside sophomore Yusef Nelson after he claimed the championship in the 113-pound weight class during Saturday’s sub-regional wrestling tournament at Auburn High School.

Nelson said the moment fulfilled a promise to his teammates after they discussed how they would celebrate a championship earlier in the day. But Nelson, who captured the title with a 13-5 decision against Auburn’s Jake Aplin, was not pleased with his performance on the mat.

“The first two times I wrestled him, I pinned him so I wasn’t expecting anything less than that,” he said.

It appeared that would occur for a third time when Nelson appeared to have Aplin on his back with three seconds remaining in the match, but he was not awarded a fall before time expired.

Auburn Riverside coach Kyle Jones said Nelson’s frustration was a byproduct of him wanting to earn more points for his team.

“I like that he’s a competitor,” he said. “He’s not happy just winning.”

Nelson, freshman Jaden Cassel (106 pounds) and junior Kenny Miller (160) all placed first in their weight classes to help the Ravens win the sub-regional tournament with 326.5 points.

A dozen Auburn Riverside wrestlers placed in the top four to advance to this Friday and Saturday’s regional tournament at Todd Beamer. Jones said the Ravens only had a couple of wrestlers advance to that point in each of the last two years.

“This group has been wrestling since they were freshmen, and they’ve kind of taken some lumps,” he said. “They’ve put in some extra time and it’s paying off for them.”

Before the season began, Jones said his team’s strength was in the lower weight classes. That was apparent at sub-regionals where Cassel faced his teammate, junior Marco Galeano, for the championship. Cassel, who has won all of his previous matches against Galeano, claimed a 3-1 decision.

Among the Ravens who qualified for the regional tournament, four are in the two lightest weight classes.

“I thought all year that was our strength,” Jones said. “Most dual meets we went in and were winning the first four matches because they’re so talented.”

He also praised the work of Miller, who competed at 170 before sub-regionals.

“I thought Kenny Miller was pretty incredible,” Jones said. “It’s about his first week down to weight, and he came through and dominated his way through the tournament.”

Auburn Riverside almost had a fourth champion at heavyweight, where junior Trendae Umi-Tuato’o nearly pinned Decatur’s Quinzy Salu in the first round. But Salu recovered to earn a 7-5 win in overtime.

“(Salu) is one of the top heavyweights in the state,” Jones said. “We had a pretty good game plan, but we just ran out of gas. We’re closing the gap.”

Trojans flex some muscles

Auburn, which finished third with 273.5 points, might have felt the same way. The Trojans, who lost their dual league meet 39-22 on Jan. 25 to the Ravens, finished with the same amount of sub-regional champions as their rival.

Cole Washburn was among Auburn’s champions at 182. He pinned Auburn Riverside’s Sam Onishchenko in 2:39 to win the title.

Auburn coach Dennis Herren said the match served as another reminder why Washburn, a junior, should be a Division I wrestling recruit.

“Cole Washburn is an inventor and creator of technique,” Herren said. “He did something in the finals that we called the limbo throw-wide because he was able to lower his elevation in a collar-tie to about an inch off the ground in a move that people usually do standing.

“He’s a once-in-an-era-type of a wrestler. He’s a remarkable combination of strength, inventiveness, strength and flexibility.”

But it is not just physicality that Washburn will rely on as he prepares to return to the Tacoma Dome for Mat Classic XXIX on Feb. 17-18. Washburn placed third at 170 in last year’s Class 3A state tournament.

“I’ve just got to stay calm through the whole thing and wait for the right moment to attack,” he said.

Ten Trojans placed in the top four to advance to the regional tournament. Along with Washburn, Gabe Sena (120) and Bailey Peterson (152) also won their weight classes.

Sena won a 3-1 decision against Auburn Mountainview’s Mahlik Walker. Herren praised Sena’s toughness, noting that he returned to a match earlier in the season after having a tooth knocked out.

“He’s a kid who genuinely loves to wrestle,” Herren said. “He has an inborn sense of confidence and faith that he can take it to anybody. It’s fun to coach a wrestler with that kind of confidence.”

Likewise, Herren said Peterson competed with a torn medial collateral ligament in his knee earlier in the season, but worked hard to stay on the mat. That also meant Peterson, who won his title with a 5-3 victory against Auburn Riverside’s Jacob Oaks, had to make another adjustment.

“His body composition showed that he could lose about 25 pounds of fat if he was willing to eat nothing but protein and vegetables,” Herren said. “And he did it – for the team.”

Meanwhile, four Auburn Mountainview wrestlers finished in the top four. Walker and Brandon Trujillo, who lost a 4-1 decision against Enumclaw’s Quinton Southcutt at 138, were the Lions’ top placers.