This is Tevyn Tillman’s time of year. The Decatur High School senior is the defending state champion at 275 pounds and a favorite to repeat again this year.
Tillman started the wrestling postseason Saturday with an easy win at the South Puget Sound League South Division sub-regional tournament at Graham-Kapowsin High School.
Tillman went 3-0 at the sub-regional with three first-round pins. The Decatur senior beat Beamer’s Brandon Barcelona in the quarterfinals in just 32 seconds, beat Graham-Kapowsin’s Michael Henry in the semifinals in 1:59 and pinned Rogers’ Allan Thompson in the championship in just 1:44.
Tillman helped Decatur to fourth place in the team standings. Rogers outdistanced Graham-Kapowsin for the SPSL South championship and Beamer ended up in third place. Graham-Kapowsin had six individual champions.
The top-five finishers advanced to Saturday’s Region 2 Tournament at Todd Beamer High School. The 2009 Mat Classic state championships will be Feb. 20-21 inside the Tacoma Dome.
Tillman wasn’t the only individual champion from Federal Way. Beamer’s Tyler Enos and Benjamin Draeger both won titles in their weight classes.
Enos cruised to the 135-pound championship with an impressive 21-5 victory over Decatur’s Jerry Doran in the title match.
Draeger beat Decatur’s Dylan Aparis in the 152-pound bracket championship, 17-2.
Beamer also got second-place finishes from Tre Uson (103 pounds), Deshar House (119) and Trevor Mills (130). Decatur got second-place finishes from Tyler Thomas (125), Greg Bull (140) and Darren Faber (189).
SPSL 4A North sub-regional
The SPSL North championships came down to a race between Tahoma and Auburn for the league crown Saturday at Kent-Meridian High School. And in the end, it was Auburn that came out on top.
Auburn and Tahoma both advanced 14 wrestlers to next weekend’s Region I tournament at Snohomish. Kentwood sends nine, followed by Kentlake (eight) and Kentridge (seven).
Jefferson finished fifth in the team standings and Federal Way was eighth. The Raiders got second-place finishes from Ivan Mukomol at 125 and Zeke Nistrian at 152. Jefferson also got third-place finishes from Zach Roth (189), Kyle Williams (171) and Kyle McIntosh (140).
