TACOMA — Forks sophomore heavyweight Miguel Morales brought back the biggest piece of hardware from the 2013 Mat Classic state championship wrestling this past weekend.
Morales, in his first year of wrestling, earned second place in the 1A 285-pound classification.
Third-ranked Cody Zyph of Kiona-Benton defeated Morales, seventh-ranked, 15-5 in the championship match.
Morales had gone 3-0 getting to the title match, winning all three matches by pin.
That included a pin in 5:12 against No. 2-ranked Jeremiah Atkins of Zillah in the semifinals.
Also for the Spartans, Joel Ward brought home the second most impressive hardware from state as he captured third place at 220.
In the third-place match, Ward beat Teigan Glidenwell of Freeman 9-4.
Port Angeles wrestlers Brian Cristion and Ozzy Swagerty both placed fourth in the 2A classification.
Cristion claimed fourth for the second year in a row at 170 while Swagerty took fourth at 126.
Port Angeles had a North Olympic Peninsula-best five wrestlers place at state. Half of the Riders’ 10 wrestlers placed.
Others placing were Kyle LaFritz, fifth at 220, Tyler Gale, fifth at 106 and Roberto Coronel, seventh at 220.
The Riders finished in the top 10 for the first time ever.
The Riders captured eighth place with 57 points.
Othello won state with 133.5 while tournament favorite Deer Park was runner-up with 111 and Orting took third with 96.5.
Despite not finishing as high as they wanted to, there were a lot of positives about this season, Port Angeles coach Erik Gonzalez said.
“Though we fell short of our goal of bringing home a trophy at Mat Classic XXV, we set more records in a season full of records as we finished in the top 10 in the state for the first time in our history,” he said.
“We finished in eighth place on the strength of a record five medalists, the previous record number of state medalists in one year was three set just last year.
“Tyler Gale became the first ever freshman to medal at state and Kyle LaFritz became the first JV wrestler to medal at state for the Riders.
“LaFritz and Roberto Coronel became just the third and fourth sophomores to medal at state for the Riders as they joined Ozzy Swagerty in that elite group.
“ Swagerty and Brian Cristion became just the fifth and sixth multiple medalists at state in team history.
“In all, nine of the 10 Riders won at least one match at state and scored valuable team points with their wins.”
The future looks bright for the Riders.
“With six of our 10 state participants returning, we look forward to next season,” Gonzalez said.
“In the mean time, they will now set their attention on the freestyle season followed by their summer camp schedule.”
Also placing for Forks were Sebastian Morales, seventh at 106, and Ricky Barragan, eighth at 138.
The Spartans, ironically, finished in the 1A team standings almost where the Riders did as they took ninth place with 56 points.
Granger dominated the team standings by taking the state title with 153 while Quincy was back in the dust in second at 105.5.
Boys Swimming
PA, Sequim
at state meet
FEDERAL WAY — The top performances at the state 2A swimming and diving championships came from Port Angeles swimmer John Macias and Sequim diver Austin Clement at the King County Aquatic Center.
Macias, a sophomore, won the consolation final in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:11.39, an improvement of more than 5 seconds from his preliminary time of 2:16.86.
Clement, meanwhile, captured ninth place in diving with a score of 264.95.
The Roughriders had five individual swimmers and two relay teams place in Saturday’s finals.
Placing in consolation races were the relay teams of the 200 medley, 11th in state with Macias, Jay Liang, Wei-Yan Fu and Avery Koehler in 1:50.94; and the 400 freestyle, 10th with Avery Koehler, Cole Urnes, Liang and Macias in 3:35.80.
Individuals placing in addition to Macias were Koehler, 16th in the 200 I.M. in 2:17.26, 10th in the 100 butterly in 59.34; Fu, 13th in 1:00.71; and Macias, 10th in the 100 backstroke in 59.72.
Several swimmers and divers performed well in Friday’s preliminary races and dives.
They included Cole Urnes in 200 freestyle, 22nd in 2:05.18, 23rd in 500 free in 5:55.88; Liang, 19th in 200 I.M. in 2:17.69, 20th in 100 breaststroke in 1:10.84; Colton Olson, 18th in 1-meter divng; and Lucas DeFrang of Crescent High School, 23rd in 1-meter diving.
State Gymnastics
Port Angeles Roughriders
TACOMA — Cecily Schwagler led the Port Angeles gymnastics team at state this past weekend in the Tacoma Dome.
Schwagler had a best finish during Friday’s first round of 31st on balance beam with a score of 8.425.
She also was 48th in all-around competition with a score of 30.075.
Also competing at state were Madylan Coventon, who tied for 51st in uneven bars at 6.90, and tied for 71st in floor exercise at 8.675; and Alyssa Martinez, who tied for 66th on vault with 8.20.