Last week’s storm forced the cancellation of all three matches scheduled for Vashon High School wrestlers.

Pirate grapplers were happy to get a little downtime to rest muscle strains and joint injuries. However it was also difficult for the team to take a week off while maintaining optimal condition and momentum as they head toward post-season action.

The only scheduled match this week is on Thursday against the top 1A team in the state, the Orting Cardinals. Next week will be quiet leading up to sub-regionals on Saturday Feb. 4.

In other wrestling news, the McMurray Middle School team started practice this week and will begin an intense, month-long schedule of matches on Feb. 13 at home. This year’s team should be fun to watch, as there is a large group of talented and experienced young wrestlers.

The Vashon Rockbusters youth wrestling program finished another successful season on Sunday when it sent two members to the Pierce County Junior Wrestling League championship.

Vashon is one of the smallest of 19 teams in the Pierce County league. To get to the league championship, a wrestler must finish in the top four in the sub-division, then face brutal competition from the larger teams and finish in the top four in the division tournament. Simply making it to the tournament was an accomplishment for the young wrestlers.

Each year the Rockbusters manage to send at least two wrestlers, though last year a record seven qualified. This year Ryan Nelson and Luke Larson represented Vashon, along with alternates Andrew Walker and Stuart Kraabel.