Wrestling a way of life for Bremerton’s Michaelson brothers

Nearly every weekend from a young age, Thor and Lars Michaelson climbed into the family car in the black of night, ready to venture onto the road to another wrestling tournament.

Just little kids, Thor and Lars coined a term for the early-morning excursions, which often began well before the sun had risen: Night rides. Their dad and coach, Ty, would drive long hours around the state, across state lines — wherever they could find a quality wrestling tournament.

By the time they were 5 or 6 years old, the brothers were wrestling nine months out of the year, competing anywhere and everywhere. To a casual, non-wrestling obsessed family, that probably sounds a little crazy. But that’s how life was for the Michaelsons.

“They were so young when we started that they didn’t know any different,” Ty Michaelson said. “They wake up and say, ‘Well, we have to go on another night drive.’”

The boys loved it, though. They had a wrestling mat in the middle of the living room. They lived and breathed the sport.

“We’d wrestle against a tape dummy that we had made, wrestle with couch cushions,” said Thor Michaelson.

Thor, a senior at Bremerton High School and Lars, a junior, are two of the state’s most dominant high school wrestlers this winter, part of The News Tribune’s 2023 class of Untouchables. Wrestling is in their blood.

“It’s just kind of a way of life for us,” Ty Michaelson said. “They’ve probably wrestled in 500 tournaments since they were young. … Since they were 5, they’ve been wrestling on pretty much every weekend there was a tournament available. It’s kind of a way of life. Just get up, weigh in, then wrestle every weekend.”

That wrestling mat in the living room? That eventually was vetoed by mom.

“The mat got kicked out,” Thor said, laughing. “Mom wasn’t a huge fan of having it in the living room.”

It probably didn’t help that things could get a bit spirited between the brothers, who were always competitive.

“You can’t fold a paper airplane in our house and not think about doing it better than your brother,” Lars said. “Everything is competitive.”

As the older sibling, Thor had the upper hand early on, but Lars eventually caught up. These days, Lars is a bit taller and longer than Thor, wrestling in the 182-pound weight class, while Thor wrestles at 170. Being at similar weights, they practice against each other daily. It’s not unusual for things to get heated in the Bremerton High School mat room, a converted auto shop that sits across the street from the school’s entrance.

“Recently, over the past couple of years, they’re so equal and competitive,” Ty said. “They’re going into fistfights and stuff at practice when they get really competitive.”

But iron sharpens iron, as they say. While the competitiveness between the siblings sometimes results in anger boiling over, they know they’re making each other better in the process. Having wrestled each other thousands of times, they know every move that’s coming before it comes. It forces them to get creative, to diversify their gameplans.

“If we just wrestled our basic style against each other, nothing would happen,” Thor said. “So it’s nice. We have to open up, try new things every day to see if I can crack his defense, or get around a position he’s really strong in.”

The Michaelson brothers will be competing for their second consecutive state titles at Mat Classic XXXIV in the Tacoma Dome this weekend.

“Definitely super exciting,” Lars said. “It’s not something you get to do often. Normally, you wrestle in front of 100 fans and it’s super local. When you’re in a big arena and everyone’s eyes are on you, it’s definitely a lot more entertaining and a lot more exciting.”

All eyes on them — that’s music to Thor’s ears.

“There’s a lot of energy, especially being on that finals mat,” he said. “You feel like everyone is watching you. There’s some electricity in that place. Takedowns are exciting. Putting someone on their back, the crowd goes crazy. That’s always a great feeling.”