When asked about their season goals, the seniors on the Mercer Island varsity wrestling squad make no bones about gunning for a sixth consecutive KingCo title.

“To be completely honest, it’s not really a goal at this point. It’s kind of an expectation of our team to win KingCo because I know we have that talent and the ability to take us there,” said returning state medalist Taylan Yuasa.

But while the Mercer Island seniors maintain KingCo title aspirations, coach Creighton Laughary said the team will have to do so while factoring in a different composition to this year’s team.

“We graduated a lot of strong kids. We have five seniors returning with some experience and a lot of kids stepping onto varsity for the first time or even stepping on the mat for first time,” he said. “I think we’ll have two goals: we’ll really try to push kids to compete at the highest level, but at the same time, I want to make it fun and have a learning experience and retain the younger and newer kids.”

Evan Condon joins Yuasa as Mercer Island’s second returning state medalist. Condon finished third in the 195 division at last year’s state tournament, while Yuasa finished sixth in the 113, though having to forfeit his final two matches due to a knee injury. Other returning seniors are Trevor Gullstad, Scott Lee and Delano Kingston.

Mercer Island will have one less obstacle in its way, with league rival Mount Si moving to 4A. Laughary acknowledged it was difficult to see such a strong opponent leave the league.

“I think it’s like Bellevue in football; it just lends the league a whole lot of credibility,” Laughary said. “Then there’s the very real benefit of being able to wrestle against some of the best wrestlers, which makes us better. Without that, we just have to make sure we take care of our opportunities when we have them.”

While juggling wrestlers of different experience levels won’t make for a sure path to a sixth KingCo title, Mercer Island’s wrestling coach seems up for the task.

“The trick is to give [the older guys] enough competition in the practice room and nurture along kids who need a lot more guidance. If we can manage that, they’re going to accomplish big things in the Dome.”