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High School Sports
Too small for hockey, Sewell now a wrestling success

By J.R. Rardon
Special to The Seattle Times

	JIM BATES / THE SEATTLE TIMES Inglemoor coach Tom Sewell hoists his son, Mikey, after the then-sophomore wrestler's victory in the state-championship match at 140 pounds last year.
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For a guy whose career was on ice for most of a decade, Mikey Sewell wasted no time warming up to high-school wrestling.

Sewell, an Inglemoor junior ranked No. 1 in Washington at 152 pounds, hung up his skates two years ago after a solid competitive hockey career. He then swept to the Class 4A state wrestling championship at 140 pounds as a sophomore, his rookie season at the three-year high school.

"I think my dad knew I'd fall into wrestling because it's a family sport," said Sewell, who has a 23-2 record this season but has not yet been beaten on the mat. "I'd probably be the outcast of the family if I didn't do it."

He'd certainly be in the minority. Sewell's dad, Tom, is Inglemoor's head wrestling coach. Mikey's older brother, Paul, a two-time state semifinalist at Inglemoor, now wrestles at 133 pounds for Columbia University in New York. And cousin Steven Sewell, a Bothell senior, is one of the state's top 125-pounders.

Heck, even mother Connie pitches in with astute observations from tapes of Mikey's matches.

Still, Sewell might well be playing junior hockey somewhere if not for a genetic marker that makes him far better suited for wrestling. Though he's already bigger than his older brother and cousin, Sewell stands just a shade over 5 feet 6.

"To advance in hockey, you've got to go on to juniors," said Sewell, who played forward for the Sno-King Junior Hockey Association's bantam program. "And they're looking for guys that are, like, 6-4 and 195 pounds."

Fortunately, Sewell had a backup plan. Through his years in hockey, he still tagged along to wrestling practices with his father and brother, and also competed for Inglemoor Mat Kids in the late spring-early summer USA Wrestling Freestyle season.

Indeed, he occasionally packed his headgear and wrestling shoes in his hockey gear bag and stopped to wrestle a few matches when there was a tournament on the way to hockey gigs in British Columbia.

"I thought he was probably going to play hockey," Tom Sewell said. "But it was up to him to make that decision. I think it was also important to him to be involved in school activities."

Mikey agreed. He said he left hockey in part to join Inglemoor's football and wrestling programs, sports that both overlap with the extended youth hockey season.

On the gridiron he played defensive end, where he often lined up next to 6-7, 290-pound all-state tackle Jordan White-Frisbee in a Mutt and Jeff pairing.

Though he may have been dwarfed by White-Frisbee on the football field, Sewell is the big man on campus when it comes to wrestling.

His only loss last season came to an Idaho opponent en route to a third-place finish in the Tri-State Tournament in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. He was named most valuable wrestler while winning the Region II tournament. His Class 4A state championship was the only one claimed by a KingCo wrestler last year.

"When the season started I wanted to be in the top four or five. I thought that was a pretty legit goal," Sewell said. "But by the end of the season, I thought I had the potential to win."

	JIM BATES / THE SEATTLE TIMES Facing Mikey Sewell, on top, is a predicament for opponents like Monroe's Chris Johnson in last year's state tournament.

Sewell picked up this season where he left off last year, with both of his losses coming on technicalities. He lost by injury default to an Arizona wrestler in the prestigious Sierra Nevada Classic in Reno, Nev., in December, the result of a knee injury that cost him two weeks of the season. His other loss, in a KingCo match, was actually a disqualification that came when his opponent was deemed unable to continue after Sewell scored a takedown.

Which means he has yet to be beaten on the mat in Washington or by a state opponent.

"I don't really think about being undefeated," Sewell said. "I just think about winning each match, one at a time. One takedown at a time, actually."

Takedowns are the calling card of Sewell, who uses technique and quickness on his feet to score two-point takedowns and then "cut" opponents, or release them for a one-point escape.

After a series of these 2-for-1 trades, he'll end up with scores like the 20-10 victory he posted in last year's KingCo tournament championship.

"One of the things we're working on is pinning more people," Tom Sewell said. "But he has great endurance and his deal is to wear kids down."

Like many top high-school athletes, Mikey would like to go on to compete in college. But unlike many who dream of an athletic career, he doesn't see college wrestling as an end to the means. After all, you have a different perspective when your brother is competing for an Ivy League school.

"I definitely want to wrestle in college," he said. "But I want to use wrestling to get into a good college."

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company