They have the potential and plenty of talent, too.<\/p>\n
Now, second-year Kentlake High wrestling coach Jeremy Williams wants to see it all come together for the Falcons on the mat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely want to be in the top three in dual (meets) in the league,\u201d Williams said. \u201cWe know Tahoma and Auburn have tough teams, and Kentwood does as well. But we have a lot of guys who have potential and aspirations to make it to state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which helps explain why the Falcons are setting the bar higher for themselves this winter than they ever have before.<\/p>\n
Kentlake posted an 0-5 mark in South Puget Sound League North Division dual meets last year. The record isn\u2019t what has Williams excited about the team\u2019s immediate future, but rather how the Falcons finished off last season, when they finished fourth at the league tournament.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It was the highest tournament finish of the year for Kentlake, a team that returns three of its four state qualifiers from last season \u2013 Sean Farr (135), Colton Marlowe (135) and Samir Faizoullin (140).<\/p>\n
Kentlake already has shown noticeable growth from a year ago, taking third place at last weekend\u2019s Decatur Invitational. Farr, competing at 130 pounds, brought home the championship with a 20-4 technical fall over Cascade of Everett\u2019s Shakail Crabb. Marlowe added a second-place finish at 135 while Nathan Meeks also took second at 285. Meanwhile, returner Jeff Harjehausen chipped in a third-place finish at 119 pounds. The Falcons finished with 144 points and just behind second-place Tacoma Baptist (166) despite the fact that Faizoullin did not compete after spraining an ankle in practice a day earlier. Decatur cruised to the team title with 236 points.<\/p>\n
The strong showing gives Williams and the Falcons reason to believe this winter. Not just because Kentlake has considerable returning talent, but also due to the fact that the Falcons were a young bunch a year ago and already have showed considerable growth in the early season.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, we were young and the league was very experienced,\u201d Williams said. \u201cIf we\u2019re not sending six or seven (wrestlers) to state this year, I think we\u2019re falling short of our goal. We should be able to send six, seven or even more.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Kentlake does, in fact, send more than seven wrestlers, the Falcons will have established a new school record. Kentlake sent a school-best seven wrestlers to state in 2007, which resulted in a program-high ninth-place finish at Mat Classic XIX.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the best Kentlake team since 2007,\u201d said Williams, who was the program\u2019s assistant coach for 11 years before taking over lead duties.<\/p>\n
Since Kentlake opened its doors in 1997, the wrestling team has brought home a total of nine individual medals, but no titles. On paper, this year\u2019s bunch may not have a state champion, though several of the Falcons \u2013 Farr, Marlowe, Faizoullin and Harjehausen among others \u2013 certainly could crack the top eight at the Tacoma Dome in February.<\/p>\n
Adding to this year\u2019s optimism is the return of Jesse Keliiliki (171) and Zac Cowan (215). In addition, Kentlake received a pair of transfers (Tyler Carrico and Kyle Sorge) who have added to the excitement over the program\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re pretty fortunate. We don\u2019t have any glaring holes,\u201d said Williams, noting that the team has roughly 50 wrestlers out on the mat this season. \u201cOur weights have shaken out pretty well this year. The guys are excited and I\u2019m really excited.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
They have the potential and plenty of talent, too.
\nNow, second-year Kentlake High wrestling coach Jeremy Williams wants to see it all come together for the Falcons on the mat.
\n\u201cWe definitely want to be in the top three in dual (meets) in the league,\u201d Williams said. \u201cWe know Tahoma and Auburn have tough teams, and Kentwood does as well. But we have a lot of guys who have potential and aspirations to make it to state.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-12626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12626"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}