Mercer Island wrestling began its season with a busy three-day stretch heading into last weekend. The Islanders managed to score a couple nonconference victories while also earning their first KingCo win.
Mercer Island opened with a 54-30 win over KingCo rival Interlake Thursday, Dec. 4 at Mercer Island High School. Taylan Yuasa (120), Trevor Gullstad (145) and Evan Condon (220) all earned pins for the Islanders, with Mercer Island getting six more wins via forfeits.
The following night, the Islanders split their matches in double dual action against Franklin and Renton at Franklin High School, beating the Quakers 54-30 while falling to the Indians 57-24. Jonah Andrews (113), Taylan Yuasa (120), Scott Lee (138), Trevor Gullstad (145) and Nic Meinzinger-Richards (160) all won by pin while Russell Asmus (195) and Evan Condon (220) earned wins by forfeit. All four Mercer Island captains earned wins in the losing effort against Renton, with Yuasa (120), Lee (138), Gullstad (145) and Condon (220) scoring pins.
On Saturday, Mercer Island competed in the annual Clash of the Classes tournament at Skyline High School, squaring off against wrestling teams from Eastlake, Newport, Issaquah and Skyline. The Islanders scored a team win over the hosting Spartans, while falling to the Wolves, Knights and Eagles.
In the 48-30 win over Skyline, Yuasa (120) pinned Zachary Froeber in 1:09, Lee (138) pinned Jaron Jin in 1:02, Meinzinger-Richards (160) pinned Justin Camal Sado in 48 seconds and Teague Frazier (182) pinned Timothy Tran in 5:40.
In the 42-29 loss to Eastlake, Condon (220) pinned Eastlake’s Jacob Kaufman in 1:20, while Meinzinger-Richards (160) won by technical fall over Rogan Kopper 15-0.
In the 45-26 loss against Newport, Jonah Andrews (113) won by major decision over Newport’s Matthew Dalton 15-2, Yuasa (120) pinned David Zobel in 28 seconds, Lee (138) won by major decision over Adam Little 14-2 and Condon (220) pinned Logan Anderson in 38 seconds. And in the 58-24 loss to Issaquah, Yuasa (120) pinned Dakota Kutz in 4:37, Lee (138) pinned Nyan Hartman in 3:56 and Meinzinger-Richards (160) pinned Dean Pearson in 1:32.
Next up, the Islanders will take on Lake Washington at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11 at LWHS.
