Gordon Gibson felt as if he was dreaming.

As the Mercer Island High School freshman wrestler lifted his arms above his head while glancing at the crowd and then his coaches, the 113-pounder couldn’t believe he had just won a 3A state championship.

Battling out from the bottom position, the Islander grappler wound up pinning Mead freshman James Mason at the 4:48 mark of the match in the third and final period on Feb. 19 at the Mat Classic XXXIII tournament at the Tacoma Dome. Gibson, who led 4-0 before notching the fall, completed a 35-3 season atop the victory podium.

Gibson said the championship match flew by in a bit of a blur and he felt in control heading into the third period.

“Leading into the final, I was coming off wins against two of the wrestlers who I lost against this season. This gave me a lot of confidence and momentum. I had also watched a good friend of mine, Sam Treperinas (of Mountlake Terrace), have success against Mason (33-8) in the quarterfinals,” said Gibson, adding that he along with his coaches and teammates Chase Warnick and Jordan Benitez devised a solid game plan and it was execution time.

With the crowd screaming after the finalists were announced, Gibson was excited and focused as he walked into the wrestling area. The mats awaited finals action.

Earlier in the tournament, Gibson snagged three consecutive victories to pave his path to the championship match. After a first-round bye, he beat Jacob Steele of Marysville Getchell, 9-0; next up was a 7-5 victory over Ashton Ammons of Kelso; and then he triumphed over Nolan Crosby of Mt. Spokane, 9-3, in the semifinals.

Gibson — who has also competed in large Brazilian jiu-jitsu and taekwondo events over the years — said he was a bit nervous the week of the state tournament, but his coaches and teammates kept his mind focused on wrestling each day during training.

“During the season, I made some small mistakes that led to my three losses. I believed I had corrected those, but knew state was going to be tough. I just took each match one at a time and didn’t think too far ahead,” said Gibson, who received guidance from head coach Lee Jahncke and assistants Chris Pothoven, Rob Mangino and Colton Knebel.

The Islander champion credits his teammates for their shared diligence during practices and putting their coaches’ plans onto the mat during competitions.

“Our team had a lot of success in tournaments and dual meets early on. This made things so much fun, and it’s always easier to work hard when it’s fun,” said Gibson, adding teammates Lincoln Woods and Max Martin into the mix with Warnick and Benitez as hard-working comrades at high school and club practices.

“You have no chance of success in the wrestling room without great training partners, and I owe all of this success to them,” Gibson said.

Mercer Island High School freshman Gordon Gibson is pictured at the Mat Classic XXXIII state tournament at the Tacoma Dome with head coach Lee Jahncke and assistants Colton Knebel and Chris Pothoven. Courtesy photo