Dominating the Dome   Lakeside High School’s Champion Wrestling Team

Domination...this one word epitomizes the 2007 - 2008 Wrestling season at Lakeside High School. Last November, 33 student athletes began training. In just four months they proved that Lakeside was the team to beat, qualifying 22 for Regionals and 11 to the State Tournament at the Tacoma Dome, February 15th and 16th.

During the regular season, Lakeside went undefeated in all of its Northeast A League meets, winning League, Districts, and Regionals. As Head Coach Troy Hughes admitted, “It was a fun first year of coaching! This was the most focused team I’ve ever coached. There was so much improvement over the season. The boys were all focused on the same goal and everyone pulled together to accomplish this goal. Everyone stepped up.”

To supplement the league schedule and provide the boys with an opportunity to wrestle against tough opponents, Coach Hughes took the team to several tournaments. At the Tri-State Tournament, called the toughest tournament west of the Mississippi, the team placed third (by half a point) out of 60 teams. First place went to a team from Flathead, Montana, ranked 10th in the nation, and second going to Lake Stevens who eventually won the Washington 4A State Tournament. Their only other third place finish occurred at the University High School Tournament, again by half a point. The rest of the Tournaments saw Lakeside in the top spot: Vashon Island, Kelso, and the East Valley Dream Duals.

The State Tournament at the Tacoma Dome gave our student athletes one last opportunity to dominate. This was accomplished in style, becoming the fifth team ever to score over 200 points in the State Tournament. A senior attended the meet as an alternate after placing sixth at the Regional meet. A sophomore faced the eventual champion in the first round and nearly beat him, 10 - 7. Final day individual placing went as follows: One fifth place, four second places, and five first places.

On their way to securing the State Championship, the wrestlers posted 10 wins in the first round, nine of which were pins. They finished the first day with 21 wins out of 24 matches; the second day saw the Eagles win 17 of 22 matches. They scored the second highest team score in the tournament’s history for any classification: 233, winning Mat Classic XX by 87 points. This Eagle Wrestling team dominated the Dome.

Thanks to Coaches Troy Hughes, Tim Cruger, Scott Friedman, Barry Lauderdale, David Young, and Patrick Mitchell.

Congratulations, Lakeside Wrestlers!