By Samuel Knight, Reporter
Hitting the mat for the last time in his wrestling career, senior Luke Larson took second place at the state tournament last month. Previously he had taken sixth as a freshman, seventh as a sophomore, and sixth as a junior in the semifinals.
His overall record throughout his high school wrestling career was an impressive 139-30.
Many people would have anticipated that senior year would be the year in which he went out on the mat and put in the most work, with his eyes on his very first state championship.
However, that’s not exactly what Larson had in mind — his primary goal for this year was to simply enjoy the experience more.
“I started flowing with it more,” Larson said. “I didn’t dedicate everything I did every single second of the day to wrestling. I had fun with it. I had a blast with the team and the coaches, and I just got to enjoy myself a lot more.”
Luke began his wrestling career at the age of four, and continued to be deeply dedicated to the sport for the following 14 years of his life.
“My childhood best friends’ dad, Chris Pruett, was the youth wrestling coach, and he prompted me to wrestle despite my parents’ disapproval,” Larson said.
Entering his freshman year of high school, Larson had big plans for his wrestling career. His most prominent goal was a state championship, but he knew that there were several steps between him and that goal.
“My freshman year I was just kind of new to the whole thing,” Larson said. “I was excited to wrestle but I didn’t know that I wasn’t going to end up being [on] varsity that year.”
Despite not making varsity his freshman year, Larson went on to place sixth at state and joined the ranks with Sam Chapman, the last Freshman to place at State — back in 2007. But Larson was still chasing the state championship.
In his sophomore year, Larson started putting more hours in and working harder than the year before. Exercise became a versatile tool which he used to build himself up to what he hoped would be the perfect wrestler.
Despite all the work he put in, he was only able to take seventh place at the state tournament his sophomore year. Larson saw another missed opportunity at his state championship and only two tries remaining.
“My sophomore year I wanted to win a state title, and I just wasn’t there,” Larson said. “I just couldn’t perform.”
It was now his junior year, and Larson was ready to put even more work in than he had in years past. He performed very well in the regular season and was confident heading into the state tournament.
He had spent all his time working to become the best wrestler he possibly could, and it was showing on the mat. Then, once again, he fell short of the state title, taking sixth at the tournament that year.
“Last year I also thought I’d win a state title — but no matter how good you are and no matter how hard you work, if you don’t execute, it just doesn’t come to you,” Larson said.
Entering his senior year, Larson was left with one opportunity to claim a state title — the one thing he had been chasing for 13 years.
However, instead of exercising even more, and training even harder, Larson took a different approach to his last year of wrestling. He decided he didn’t have to spend every second of the day thinking about a state title.
He could enjoy his senior year, his last year with his coaches and teammates who were the reason he had come to love the sport in the first place.
“In the moment it’s harder to be happy with what you learn versus what you accomplish because everyone wants to taste gold, and everyone wants to be on top of the podium,” Larson said. “But what I’ve learned [is that] the long-term relationship I’ve built with my coaches and my relationship with the wrestling community … will stand much higher with me than the rest of my accomplishments.”
Throughout the regular season, Larson had ups and downs but was still steadily dominant over his opponents. His love for the sport drove him forward, rather than his need for a state title. Even so, Larson wasn’t ready to let go of his last chance to win big..
During the tournament in mid-February, Larson prevailed in one spot in particular in which he had struggled in years past. He went in to his semifinal match with a winning mindset, ready to overcome the one match he couldn’t in the past.
This time, he was able to persist and take the victory. Winning his semifinal match, Larson was headed to his first state finals match of his wrestling career, which was also his last. The chance he had been chasing was finally right in front of him.
Though he did lose his finals match, he took second at the state tournament — higher than he had ever managed to place before.
He got to enjoy his final season with his coaches, Per Lars and Anders Blomgren, as well as one last season with his teammates. Placing second may have not been his end goal, but Larson still felt as though he had both accomplished some great things and formed great bonds.
“A big difference for me was winning my semifinal match,” Larson said. “In previous years, I’d lost my semifinal match. … This year when I got to the finals I just felt accomplished.”
Luke doesn’t plan to wrestle in college. He feels that his experience on Vashon is unique, and he cannot imagine wrestling anywhere else.
Although he doesn’t plan to wrestle again himself, Larson wants to support the youth in the sport he learned to love.
“I do definitely see myself hopefully getting to come back and help, giving back to our community, because they deserve that,” Larson said.