After a frustrating freshman season bogged down by Covid-19 restrictions, Otto Shelton had quit wrestling. Now as a senior at Blaine, he has outwrestled some of the best wrestlers in the state and is currently ranked third in 1A, according to the Washington Wrestling Report.
Shelton will compete at the District 1 1A tournament in Deming on Saturday, February 15 for a trip to the Mat Classic XXXVI State Tournament in Tacoma.
“I want to go into the tournaments in as good a shape as I can accomplish,” Otto said. “I’d like to take first at districts and hopefully first at state.”
Shelton has already racked up two first place finishes at the Mariner Holiday Wrestling Tournament and the 2025 Apple Pie Invite. He placed second at the Spud Walley Invite and The Rock Tournament.
“He’s had a great season,” Blaine wrestling head coach Tom Hinz said. “He’s gotten stronger, more patient and he really knows what he’s good at and sticks to that.”
This season, Otto has focused on wrestling in a style that fits his weight class. He returned to wrestling last season, his junior year, after not being on the team as a sophomore. Otto had to adjust to the heavier 285-pound weight class.
“Last year, I came into it thinking, ‘I’m going to shoot on everybody and basically wrestle like a lighter weight class,’ because I was previously 215,” Otto said.
Otto won a match at the state tournament last year but lost to the eventual 285-pound state champion Anthony Nava of Toppenish, now a 2A school.
Otto began his wrestling career at a very young age because his parents ran the Blaine Barracuda Wrestling Club.
“We ran the paperwork side of it, and then we found a couple coaches to step in and coach the kids,” said Max Shelton, Otto’s dad. “Initially it was just for fun, to go to practice and have a good time. And then he got to the point where he wanted to start competing and going to tournaments.”
Otto continued his wrestling career past the youth levels and joined the high school team as a freshman. But Covid-19 restrictions led to a slow freshman season with minimal competitions.
“My wrestling partner kept getting Covid, and the protocol was whoever wrestled him the night before couldn’t go to the wrestling tournaments,” Otto said. “I didn’t end up going to a lot of wrestling tournaments my freshman year.”
Since he couldn’t compete at tournaments, there wasn’t motivation to continue in the sport.
“I lost interest,” Otto said.
After skipping his sophomore season, Victor Gervol, who placed third at state last year, got Otto back on the team.
“He honestly got me back into wrestling and made me rejoin the team,” Otto said.
Otto has excelled in his senior season, challenging some of the best wrestlers in the state. Earlier this season he lost to the number one 1A wrestler, Logan Roberts, of Montesano High School. Now, Otto is headed to districts with vengeance.
“He would like to be in the finals of state and I think that he’d like to have another shot at the Montesano kid, or whoever’s going to be there,” Hinz said. “He has all the tools. He just needs to believe that it’s a possibility.”
This wrestling season has been unique for 1A wrestlers. Over the offseason, the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association Executive Board got rid of regional tournaments and the state bracket has now doubled in size to a 24-man bracket for 1A.
“We have prepared ourselves for that,” Hinz said. “We’ve gone to a lot of really tough tournaments.”
Blaine will wrestle Meridian, Mount Baker and Nooksack Valley at the District 1 1A tournament at Mt. Baker High School on Saturday, February 15. The top two teams will qualify for the Mat Classic XXXVI State Tournament beginning Friday, February 21 at the Tacoma Dome.
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