Wrestling: Shorewood Boys go to 5-1 in League Duals as they defeat Lynnwood 60-24

Seniors L-R Front: Varun Nair, Happiness Angkel, Eli Jeppsen, Yaphet Haptom, Lynn Ou, Ellie Van Horn, Finely Houck, John Pernia, Eoin Ritter.
Back Row L-R: Malakai McQueen, Noah Eaglehead, Finn Grote, Babou Cham

Article by Tricia Norton

Photos by Shawn Van Horn and Tricia Norton

The final home dual of the Shorewood wrestling season highlighted the Stormray best. The team celebrated their 13 seniors, warmed up to the amazing rhythms of the Shorewood drumline, and soundly defeated the Lynnwood Royals.

The meet started with a Junior Varsity match where the Stormrays came away with a 42 to 12 victory aided by wins from An Tran, Andy Hegerberg, Vincent Ariano, Jack Uckun, Hussein Mousa, Toshi Taura, Happy Angkel, and Justin Widnyana.

Shorewood drumline

The Shorewood drumline hyped the crowd as the varsity teams warmed up and prepared to honor the seniors. The coaches shared memories and future plans for each of the seniors, many of whom have been wrestling for Coach Norton for six years. 

The senior wrestlers included three members of the girls team, Finley Houck, Lynn Ou, and Ellie Van Horn. 

Above: Babou Cham
Below: Eli Jeppsen

On the boys side, seniors included Happiness Angkel, Babou Cham, Noah Eaglehead, Finn Grote, Yaphet Habtom, Eli Jeppsen, Malakai McQueen, Varun Nair, John Pernia and Eoin Ritter. 

Eoin Ritter, left

The drumline punctuated the honors for each student with a unique cadence. Coach Norton commented, “This is a great group of seniors who will leave behind a legacy of hard work and determination for their teammates who follow after.”

Above: Lynn Ou
Below: Finley Houck

Shorewood girls wrestled exhibition matches before the boys dual. Seniors Lynn Ou and Finley Houck came away with wins, setting the tone for the boys match to come.

The Stormrays took an early lead as they pinned their first 3 opponents, and received a forfeit at 113 pounds. Two freshman set high bars for the night. Ben Norton got the fastest pin at 106 lbs in :48 seconds while Easten Edens showed stamina getting his pin in deep in the third period. Senior Yaphet Habtom got to represent the senior class well, pinning his opponent early in the second period.

Above: Malakai McQueen
Below: Yaphet Habtom

Then Lynnwood nearly leveled the score with 3 straight pins. At 150 pounds the match shifted back to Shorewood control and Stormrays Eli Jeppsen, Max Uckun, Kai Graham, Lukas Probizanski, and Babou Cham all came away with pins. Lynnwood also gave up a forfeit at 285 pounds.

Each wrestled match ended in a pin, Lynnwood capturing 4, but Shorewood running away with 8 pins and 2 forfeits, creating a final score of 60 to 24. With this decisive win, Shorewood went to 5-1 on the season for league matches, their only conference loss to Edmonds Woodway who went on to take 2nd place at the 3A Dual State meet Saturday January 31st.

Coach Brady Houck commented that, “this was a particularly meaningful night, since my daughter is a senior on the team. It’s bittersweet to see her and the other seniors being celebrated, knowing that their time with the team is coming to an end.

"That said, it was an amazing night, and it was great to see everybody get appropriately recognized for all that they’ve done for the team. It was an unforgettable night.”

Box Score: Shorewood 60 Lynnwood 24

• 106: Ben Norton (SW) pinned Noah Richards (:48)
• 113: Emi Olivera (SW) received forfeit
• 120: Easten Edens (SW) pinned Dylan Por (5:31)
• 126: Yaphet Habtom pinned Edward Lim (2:36)
• 132: Ashton Myers (LW) pinned Matbeal Dinka (2:44)
• 138 Braedyn Clark (LW) pinned Eoin Ritter (1:11)
• 144: Gabriel Robbins (LW) pinned John Pernia (1:23)
• 150: Eli Jeppsen (SW) pinned Jared Sum (2:39)
• 157: Max Uckun (SW) pinned Landon Stull (4:57)
• 165: Kai Graham (SW) pinned Ivan Xu (1:48)
• 175: Elijah Howel (LW) pinned Finn Grote (3:06)
• 190: Luka Probizanski (SW) pinned Caleb Gately (1:10)
• 215: Babou Cham (SW) pinned Mohammed Aoune (5:23)
• 285 Noah Eaglehead (SW) received forfeit