Sam Zook was able to deflect all the arrows.

At the beginning of the season, the Washington Wrestling Report listed Zook first among all 3A 285-pound wrestlers.

The No. 1 ranking “put a target on my back,” Zook said. It also ramped up the pressure “quite a bit,” he added, to fend off all comers.

Zook justified the top billing by winning the state championship last weekend in Tacoma. He is the ninth Oak Harbor High School wrestler to claim a state crown and the first since Brian Lang in 2001.

Last season as a junior, Zook placed third at state. The two wrestlers who finished ahead of him were seniors, so coming into this season, Zook was, rightly so, placed on top of the weight class rankings.

Zook said he realized he had a legitimate chance to become a state champion when he placed third in 2016.

Zook finished the past two seasons with an 81-2 record.

He likely would have earned another state medal as a sophomore but was third string behind two of the state’s best 285-pounders on the Oak Harbor team. Each school is allowed to enter only two wrestlers in each weight class in the postseason, and Zook was the odd man out.

Jackson Constant, who placed second, and Tyler Adamson went on to compete at the state tournament. Zook lost to Adamson by one point in a wrestle-off to determine Oak Harbor’s second postseason participant. Seeing his teammates’ success at state was a “confidence booster” he said.

Since Zook did not participate at state in the 2015, he was a bit of an unknown heading into his junior season. He steadily climbed up the rankings as he won every match until a second-round loss at state.

He avenged that loss to Markus Robinson of Spokane’s Rogers High school with a 4-1 win at state this year.

“It was the match,” Zook said. “If we were going to win one match, that was it.”

Zook started state this year with a first-minute fall. Then came the win over Robinson. He followed that by edging Nathan Scanlan of Spanaway Lake 3-2, taking a one-point lead into the final round and riding it out for the win.

Zook’s opponent in the finals was a surprise and a familiar face, Tristan Emery of Arlington. Emery, ranked eighth coming into the tournament, pulled off a couple of upsets to reach the championship match.

Zook pinned Emery in the finals of the conference and regional tournaments the previous two weeks.

Facing Emery in the state championship match was both a blessing and a curse, Zook said. Zook said he knew he could beat him, but Emery also “knew all my tricks.” Apparently not well enough — Zook pinned Emery for the third straight week, this time 16 seconds into the second round.

Zook was joined at state by five teammates, and four went on to medal.

The success of his teammates made his championship run more enjoyable, he said.

“It was awesome,” Zook said. “It made me fell like I wasn’t the only one there.”

Of the six Wildcats at state, all but one finished at or above their pre-tournament rankings.

“Nick (Dugin, who was ranked 15th) taking seventh was phenomenal,” Zook said. “McBride (Blake) reached the semifinals when no one thought he would. Caitlin (Woodworth) had a hard loss and battled back.”

McBride went on to take sixth and Woodworth fifth.

Zook noted that he would have been joined in the winners’ circle by No. 1-ranked Meredith Bain if she hadn’t been injured in a semifinal match. The injury cost her that match and she was forced to default the next two, finishing sixth.

That left Zook to represent the Wildcats in the finals.

Winning the title “felt amazing,” Zook said. “Nothing compares to it. All the hard work I put in came to a rest.”

Zook has signed a letter of intent to play football for Central Washington University next fall.

But for now, he can remove the target and replace it with a gold medal.