4A Wrestling | 3-peat for Lake Stevens, Auburn's Jake Swartz

TACOMA — No chest-thumping, no finger-pointing, and certainly no back-flipping.

Jake Swartz showed little emotion after becoming Auburn High School's first three-time state wrestling champion Saturday at Mat Classic XXI at the Tacoma Dome. But he was smiling inside.

"I'm happy," Swartz said after winning the Class 4A title at 189 without giving up a point in four matches. "I don't really need to tell other people I'm happy."

Swartz, who went 111-3 over the past three seasons and 143-12 for his career, said he wouldn't be pressured into the same back flip his brother Kurt performed when he won his second championship as a senior in 2006. The two will wrestle together next season at Boise State.

"He's very humble," Auburn coach John Aiken said of Jake. "He feels the same as those guys [who celebrate]. He just wants to make sure he doesn't show anybody up."

Lake Stevens had plenty of reason to celebrate after rolling to a third consecutive team title with a 4A tournament-record 169 points. It is the school's sixth championship over the past nine years and seventh overall, more than any other program has won since 1990. The Vikings, who have finished out of the top four just once since 2000, are the first to claim three straight 4A crowns since Kentwood won from 2000 to 2002. Moses Lake won a 4A-record five in a row from 1964 to 1968.

"The kids wrestled out of their minds this weekend," Lake Stevens coach Brent Barnes said.

Ten of the 13 wrestlers Barnes brought took home medals, led by two-time champions Josh Heinzer (112) and George King (152).

Snohomish scored 102.5 points to earn a school-best second place with Sam Ottow (130) and Stefan St. Marie (135) both earning titles. Three others placed in the top five.

Auburn finished third with 88 points, a fifth straight top-four finish, while Tahoma was fourth with 84.

NOTES

• Three other defending champs were able to repeat — Efrain Aguilar of Graham-Kapowsin (119), Nick Bayer of Tahoma (171) and Tevyn Tillman of Decatur (185).

• Perhaps there was no one happier in the tournament than Ottow, who had lost in the finals the previous two years. "I've waited too long to do this," he said.

• Kentwood sophomore Ruben Navejas had to work overtime to capture the 103-pound title, edging Bryce Evans from Rogers of Puyallup 4-2. The two have battled back and forth this season with Navejas owing his only two losses to Evans.

• Grant Haschak of Lake Washington (215) and Dylan Granard of Woodinville (145) finished second.

• Tillman struggled to beat Arlington's Bryant Dickerson in the final, but was true to his happy-go-lucky nature afterward. "I was on Cloud Nine just being here," he said.

Sandy Ringer: 206-718-1512 or sringer@seattletimes.com