High School Sports
KingCo 3A wrestling: MI lightweights do heavy lifting

By Matt Massey
Special to The Seattle Times

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MERCER ISLAND — The little people produced big results for the Mercer Island wrestling team. That meant the early matches swung the Islanders' way.

Junior Jean Laschever, only the third female wrestler in Mercer Island history, scored a close win at 112 pounds and freshman Greg Jones broke out of a funk at 119 as the host Islanders topped Liberty 39-27 last night in a match that likely decided the KingCo 3A regular-season championship.

The Islanders improved to 7-0 in league and probably sealed their first KingCo 3A regular-season crown since 1998.

"That's what we figured, that this was for all the marbles," said Mercer Island's Paul Jackson, the school's 27th-year coach. "I didn't have to tell them anything. The learning curve is pretty good here."

Having already beaten all three of its top threats, Mercer Island finishes the regular season at Newport next Wednesday and at Bellevue next Thursday.

After Liberty (5-1) forfeited the first match, Mercer Island took a 9-0 lead when Laschever — the team's only girl — scored a two-point reversal with three seconds left for a 9-7 win over Daniel Hanks at 112.

The Islanders' lead grew to 12-0 when Jones, who weighed in at 109 for the 119 class, outlasted Liberty's Hayes Diemert, 18-16. It was just the second victory of the season for Jones.

"I kept telling him he was going to win a meaningful match for us sometime," Jackson said.

The Patriots didn't win until the sixth bout of the night as Bj Ward, the defending Class 3A state champion at 140, pinned Kyle Agnew in 5:45. The Patriots senior stayed unbeaten at 21-0.

The team outcome was mathematically clinched when John Dixon got an 18-6 major decision at 171 over Liberty's Tyler Hart.

Laschever hadn't practiced since injuring her left calf Saturday at the Island Invitational at Bainbridge. She improved to 13-7 overall by beating Hanks, who finished fourth at the KingCo 3A tournament last season.

"Winning is always fun, but it's a million times better when you know you contributed and get other people fired up," said Laschever, who aspires to wrestle in college. "I knew this was going to be an important match for me, so I was nervous about it.

"There's nothing better than hanging out with these guys. It's great."

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