Thomas Jefferson senior Zeke Nistrian admitted to not taking the sport of wrestling seriously after virtually cruising to a sixth-place finish at the 2009 Mat Classic as a sophomore. In fact, Nistrian didn’t even finish the wrestling season during his junior year at TJ.

“I got up to 175 or 180 pounds last year,” Nistrian said. “I wasn’t really mentally into it and you have to be in wrestling. I placed at state as a sophomore and I thought it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

But Nistrian was all business Friday and Saturday at the Mat Classic State Wrestling Championships inside the Tacoma Dome. The 152-pounder cruised to the Class 4A state title with a hard-fought 3-2 decision over Davis junior Austin Wagner, who beat Nistrian at a tournament in the beginning of the season.

“I started getting serious about wrestling in October and got back into shape,” said an emotional Nistrian. “This is what I’ve always dreamed of.”

Nistrian was the 10th of 12 children born to his mother and father, who immigrated to the United States from Romania. He was the first of the Nistrian siblings born in America and the only one of the 12 kids to take to the sport of wrestling.

“We are more of a soccer family,” Nistrian said.

Nistrian dominated the 152-pound bracket Friday and Saturday. He pinned Arlington’s Nathan Shortt in his opener Friday morning in just 3:37 and won a 12-3 decision over Eisenhower’s Humberto Acevedo in the quarterfinals.

Nistrian’s toughest and closest match of the tournament came in the semifinals, when he won a 5-3 decision in overtime over Lake Stevens’ Andrew King. King was the top-ranked 152-pounder entering the state tournament.

Against Wagner in the final, Nistrian took a quick 2-0 lead with a takedown just 37 seconds into the match. Wagner tied the score at 2-2 with two reversals, but Nistrian tallied a reversal of his own early in the third round to secure the state championship. It’s the second year in a row the Raiders have won an individual title. Kyle McIntosh won the 145-pound crown in 2010.

Nistrian’s teammate, 189-pounder K.W. Williams wasn’t able to celebrate a state title Saturday night. But the junior came ever so close. Williams lost in the championship match to South Kitsap’s Conner Hartmann, 3-0.

The loss to Hartmann came a week after he also lost to the South Kitsap senior in the championship at regionals. Hartmann ended the season with a perfect record. Williams earned the championship berth with a rugged semifinal win over Snohomish’s Mark Morrill, 5-4.

In other Mat Classic action:

• The Federal Way Eagles’ girls wrestling team finished up in fifth place overall after another impressive state tournament. Sedro Woolley won the state girls title with 79 points, followed by Warden (50.5), Mt. Baker (40) and Kelso (37.5). Federal Way finished with 35 total points after solid tournaments from seniors Jocie Weinberger and Maria Manzueta, as well as a fourth-place finish from sophomore Bianca Arizpe and a seventh-place from junior Axa Molina.

Weinberger completed her high school wrestling career with a fourth-place performance at 130 pounds. The podium finish will go along with Weinberger’s two second-place finishes during her sophomore and junior seasons. Weinberger advanced into the semfinals for the third year in a row before getting pinned by Kennewick’s Hannah Moon.

Manzueta finished up in fifth place at 119 pounds. After winning her opening match, Manzueta lost in the quarterfinals to drop into the consolation bracket. The senior ended up 4-2 during the 2011 Mat Classic.

Arizpe advanced into the semifinals, before losing to Bremerton’s Lauren Richardson, 9-6, to drop into the consolation bracket. The sophomore eventually lost in the third-fourth match.

Molina won her opening-round match at 119 pounds before getting pinned by the eventual champion, Hoquiam’s Dallas Wagner, in the quarterfinals.

• The Decatur foursome of Rad Krysa, Nick Karis, Rowland Gaydosh and Kyle Gleed ended their seasons with two medals Saturday night in Tacoma. Krysa, a senior, and Karis, a sophomore, both finished in sixth place after advancing into the semifinals in their respective weight classes. Krysa, a 119-pounder, lost to University’s Brandon Matlock in the semifinals after winning a pair of tough decisions in his opening two matches, including a 2-1 victory over Timberline’s Josh Beam in the quarterfinals.

Karis, a 160-pounder, was beaten by Everett’s Connor Boyce in the semifinals in a rugged 6-5 decision. Boyce eventually lost to Enumclaw’s Kario Wallin in the championship.

Fellow sophomores Gaydosh and Gleed both failed to place in their first Mat Classics. Gaydosh, a 171-pounder, won his opening match by fall over O’Dea’s JJ Thornes, before losing his next two matches.

The 285-pound Gleed lost his opener Friday before earning one of the quickest pins of the weekend over Highline’s DeWayne Perry in just 16 seconds. But Gleed lost his next match.

• The Todd Beamer Titans sent five wrestlers to the Mat Classic and walked away with two podium finishes. Junior Tre Uson ended up eighth at 112 pounds after going 2-3 and junior Ares Carpio, the defending 119-pound state title winner, finished in third place at 125 pounds.

Carpio cruised into the semfinals with two big decision wins in his first two matches. But Central Valley’s Jarod Maynes won a tight 11-9 decision in the semifinals. Carpio dominated his two consolation bracket matches to snag third place.

Freshman Brett Dykman lost both his matches at 112 pounds Friday, as did junior Aron Set-Heit at 135. Deshar House, a junior 130-pounder, finished 1-2 during the tournament.

• Federal Way’s lone boy representative, 152-pound senior Joseph Coronell finished 1-2 during the tournament after having to injury default in his second consolation bracket match.