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Turner is king of the mat

Posted in Wrestling, tagged , , , , on January 12, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville wrestler Alex Turner puts a foe down hard in a previous tournament. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Make sure they remember your name.

Alex Turner is the only Coupeville High School wrestler, so it’s up to him to carry the torch for an entire school.

Saturday afternoon the Wolf senior wrote another successful chapter, sweeping three matches as he won a title at the Arlington JV Tournament.

Competing at 182 pounds, with his opponents coming from much-bigger schools, Turner ripped through his bouts.

After pinning both of his first two foes in the opening round of their matches, he settled for a win by decision (9-2) in the championship bout.

Since CHS doesn’t have a wrestling program Turner trains and travels with 3A Oak Harbor. He’ll return to 1A for the postseason.

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Wrestling mat welcomes back Turner

Posted in Wrestling, tagged , , , , on January 5, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Alex Turner (top) takes control during a match. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Nothing comes easy in wrestling.

Returning from an extended holiday break, Coupeville High School senior Alex Turner was back on the mat Saturday, but minus a fair amount of poundage.

Getting ready for the run up to the postseason, he shaved off 12 pounds, going from the 182-pound class back to the 170-pound level where he was a state meet alternate as a junior.

Turner’s first crack at his new/old level came at the Panther Classic in Snohomish, where he went 1-2 Saturday while facing wrestlers from much-larger schools.

Repping 1A Coupeville, while training and traveling with 3A Oak Harbor, Turner opened Saturday against Kevon Zakula, who grapples for Westview, a 6A school from Portland, OR.

Zakula took the match by fall at the 5:37 mark, but Turner rebounded to blast Charlie Van Horn of 3A Edmonds-Woodway in the next round.

The lone Wolf dropped his foe after just 40 seconds of mat action.

Turner closed out his day with a close loss to Dylan Owen of 4A Glacier Peak, taking a fall at the 3:45 mark.

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King of the mat!!

Posted in Wrestling, tagged , , , , on December 15, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Alex Turner, seen here during football’s Senior Night, is now ripping up the wrestling mat. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Fear the Wolves on the mat.

Coupeville High School may only have one active wrestler, and no program of its own, but that lone Wolf is doing OK on his own.

CHS senior Alex Turner was fairly flawless Saturday, sweeping through three matches to claim a title in the 182-pound class at the Everett Gold Medal Classic.

He opened with a win on points (12-4), the pinned his second and third foes. The first pin came in a sizzlin’ 30 seconds.

Turner, who returned to Coupeville this year after spending several seasons at South Whidbey High School, was an alternate to state last year as a Falcon junior.

Unfortunately, his current school has never had a wrestling program, so he and dad Joseph arranged for him to train and travel with 3A Oak Harbor High School.

Turner competes as a Wolf, though, and will return to 1A for the postseason.

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Turner launches Wolf mat career!!

Posted in Wrestling, tagged , , , , on December 1, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville senior Alex Turner (top) takes control during a pre-season wrestling match. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Coupeville’s one-man wrestling team has officially arrived.

Coming off an inter-squad scrimmage in which he won both of his bouts, Alex Turner split four matches Saturday at the 30-team Edmonds Invite.

The Coupeville High School senior, who is training and traveling with 3A Oak Harbor but competing as a lone Wolf, finished 5th in the 182-pound class.

Both of Turner’s wins Saturday came via points, with 14-8 and 9-7 decisions.

The majority of the teams represented in the Invite were 3A and 4A schools, while Coupeville is among the smallest of 1A institutions.

Seeing a Wolf on the mat is an unusual occurrence, as CHS has no in-school wrestling program.

After transferring from South Whidbey, where he went to state as an alternate in the 170-pound class during his junior season, Turner faced the end of his grappling career.

But, after a plea to the WIAA, he and his father, Joseph, were able to work out an agreement between the two Island schools.

Turner will wrestle in tournaments, but can’t compete and score points for Oak Harbor in dual meets.

He did take part in the annual Purple and Gold scrimmage, beating both Wildcat grapplers who stepped on the mat with him.

Once the postseason starts, Turner will leave OHHS behind and head back down to 1A as he chases his Mat Classic dreams.

“My goal is to make it to the second day of state this year,” he said.

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Grapplers from two continents unite!!

Posted in Wrestling, tagged , , , , on January 7, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   A visiting wrestler is hailed as the winner at a recent exhibition in Everett between American and Japanese grapplers. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

“And where do you think you’re going????”

Wrestling officials lay down the rules.

   Oak Harbor’s Michael Fisken (in red), who doesn’t normally wrestle freestyle, gamely tries to hold his own on the mat.

Three Oak Harbor High School wrestlers got a chance Friday to find out what it was like to fight for their life.

Facing off with grapplers from another continent, while using a different wrestling style than normal, the Wildcat trio were part of a USA vs. Japan exhibition match in Everett.

OHHS juniors Caleb Fitzgerald, Blake McBride and Michael Fisken and their coach, Larry Falcon, were part of the American team, which was drawn from Wesco schools.

Once on the mat, the ‘Cats had to wrestle freestyle, which is favored internationally, instead of folkstyle, which is what American high schools and colleges favor.

If you’re wondering what the difference is, hey, that’s why Wikipedia exists.

Fresh off the experience, McBride and Fisken reverted back to their normal style of wrestling Saturday, winning titles at 145 and 220, respectively, at the Panther Classic at Snohomish High School.

Having been informed Coupeville Sports has a decent following in Japan (seriously, it does), proud dad and ever-busy photographer John Fisken sent me a couple of the pics he shot at the international event.

For that, we (my Japanese fans and myself) thank him.

To see everything Fisken shot at the exhibition, pop over to:

http://www.johnsphotos.net/Sports/Wrestling-2017-2018/2018-01-05-USA-vs-Japan/

And PS, if you think Coupeville should join the rest of the civilized world and have a wrestling team (like virtually every other freakin’ high school in the state), I agree.

Now, someone go do something about it.

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