The Mountaineers finished with 369.5 points Saturday in the two-day, all-county Joe Beam Invitational wrestling meet at Sehome. Squalicum was second with 273.5 and Bellingham third with 272. Ferndale, the only other school to ever win the event (2002), was fourth with 219.5.

"We wrestled steady and I'm very pleased with how the kids competed," Baker coach Ron Lepper said. "We won this tournament with our third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place wrestlers. That was the key. We sent seven kids into the third-fourth match and six won. That's awesome."

The Mounties got some help at the top of the brackets, too, placing champions in four weight classes, something only Squalicum matched.

Baker's Craig Jackson stayed perfect this season, beating the Storm's Nick Webb 20-5 in the finals of the 145-pound division.

"I felt good out there," Jackson (21-0) said. "We knew it was going to be close and we're glad to get this win."

Colten Steagall (103), Tyler Marshall (125) and Dustin Chellson (130) were Baker's other champions and four others placed second. Lepper was particularly impressed with Brandon Weide (119), who finished third after losing his first match of the tournament to runner-up Nick Michaelson of Squalicum.

The tournament doesn't have the competitive depth of some others around the state, but Lepper wouldn't discount Beam's caliber.

"There are good kids in every weight class," he said. "Every team has one or two kids who will make you better by wrestling them."

Jackson said the competition Baker faced at the tournament would help them prepare for the postseason.

"We're maturing as a team and this is good for us," he said. "We've got some big goals."

Despite winning by nearly 100 points, Lepper said he wasn't sure earlier in the week that the Mounties had enough depth to win, thinking that Bellingham, Ferndale and Squalicum might be deeper.

"I didn't think we had enough guns to get it done," he said, "but obviously we did."

Squalicum coach Jeff Knudsen was pleased with the Storm's performance.

"With the amount of varsity guys we had that were capable of reaching the finals, we did what we expected to do," the coach said.

Nine Squalicum wrestlers reached the finals, more than any team. Jason Costello (112), Brett O'Brien (135), Mason Webb (152) and Ryan Nielson (160) all won their respective weight classes for the Storm.

Other division winners are Bellingham's Cameron Brearley (119) and Nick Vlahos (215), Meridian's Andy Karuza (140) and Brady Emmons (171), and Ferndale's Chet Slevin (189) and Derek Altona (275).

Team scores: 1. Mount Baker 369.5, 2. Squalicum 273.5, 3. Bellingham 272, 4. Ferndale 219.5, 5. Meridian 158.5, 6. Nooksack Valley 152, 7. Lynden 117, 8. Blaine 109.5, 9. Sehome 68, 10. Unattached 9.