This is the time of year that all high school wrestlers dream of glory and a state trophy.
Come state tournament time in early March, there will be a few new faces at state from the North Olympic Peninsula because there’s not a lot of returning state placers in the area.
But that doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of talent on the four area wrestling teams, including Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Townsend and Forks.
Forks senior Cutter Grahn, a two-time state placer, is the top returning wrestler on the Peninsula.
Grahn is eyeing a state title in his final high school season.
Port Angeles, meanwhile, lost all of its top wrestlers to graduation but may have the best overall team in the area with young talent ready to make a name for themselves and battle for an Olympic League team championship.
The youthful Roughriders already have beaten powerhouse Kingston on that road to the league title.
Sequim will be more experienced after returning state participant Dakota Hinton, a senior who had 29 wins a year ago.
Port Townsend will be young and inexperienced this season with no returning state wrestlers but there are several who have been knocking on state’s door and are expected to break through to the other side this coming March.
Following are previews of the four teams.
Port Angeles Roughriders
PORT ANGELES — Coach Erik Gonzalez, starting his 10th season as the Riders’ head coach, has produced several league titles and one state champion in John Camp, who had a perfect season in 2009 at the Class 3A level.
Last year in 2A competition, senior Nathan Cristion was the All-Peninsula MVP by capturing fourth in state and ending with an outstanding 41-4 record.
But Cristion graduated along with two other seniors who wrestled at state.
Gonzalez, though, says he expects this year’s team to be even stronger overall than last year’s.
“We may be a better team overall because we have quite a bit of depth,” he said. “We have a good mix of older kids and younger kids who are coming up.”
Even though no state participants are back, several wrestlers went to regionals and a few of them were state alternates, just a win away from state.
“They are hungry for that next step, which is state,” Gonzalez said.
“We do have a lot of varsity experience. We have an exciting group right now.”
About 50 athletes turned out for wrestling and 45 or 46 of those are still with the program, Gonzalez said.
That makes the Riders, by far, the biggest team on the Peninsula.
Numbers in the upper 40s have been common for the Riders in recent years, thanks to the youth club program Gonzalez started 10 years ago, and also the middle school program, which began five years ago.
Freshman Brady Anderson is one of the many wrestlers who have come up through the club.
“Anderson has been with me since he was a little guy,” Gonzalez said. “He will be a good one, no doubt about it.”
Anderson, wrestling at 106 to 113 pounds, is undefeated on the year after winning at the 14-team Cleveland Invitational Dec. 3 and pinning Lindsey Barnhill of Kingston with 46 seconds left in the first period last Wednesday night.
He beat Barnhill at 113 pounds.
Some of the regional wrestlers just missing state last year include Josh Basden at 113 pounds, who took third at Cleveland; Ozzy Swaggerty at 120, who has “blazing quickness and athleticism,” Gonzalez said; a solid Kody Steele at 152; Brian Sullivan, a state alternate who will battle all year with sophomore Nick Lasorsa at 170 pounds.
“That will make both Sullivan and Lasorsa stronger,” Gonzalez said about the competition between them.
And then there’s junior Brian Cristion — Nathan’s little brother — who, like Anderson, is undefeated after winning at Cleveland and winning by a pin against Kingston.
Brian Cristion also was just one win away from state last winter.
“We have high expectations for Brian,” Gonzalez said.
Another wrestler Gonzalez has high expectations for is junior Zach Grall at 195, who wrestled behind Nathan Cristion last year, did well at regionals and captured third place at Cleveland.
Corey Roblan, at 220 pounds, was injured last year but made regionals two years ago.
Heavyweight Michael Myers, a junior, also qualified for regionals a year ago.
Others to watch are freshman Blake Meldrum at 126, who is the brother of Chad Meldrum, who wrestled at state in 2008; and Keith Halsey, 138, who made the semifinals at Cleveland and settled for fifth place.
“We expect big things from Keith by the end of the season,” Gonzalez said.
Michael Ahrens, 145, also made the semifinals at Cleveland and settled for fifth place.
The Riders already showed their depth when they defeated Kingston 39-35 in the first Olympic League dual meet of the season for both teams last week.
The two teams tied for second in league a year ago. The Buccaneers have beaten the Riders the past two years.
Klahowya, the defending league champion, also will be in the mix for the league title.
“We have a lot of kids coming back and they are ready to step up,” Gonzalez said.
“I tell them that ‘iron sharpens iron.’ That’s what they have been doing.”
Forks Spartans
FORKS — Spartan coach Bob Wheeler is the dean of area coaches with more than 23 years experience under his belt.
His teams always produce a few state-quality wrestlers, and this year should be no different.
Varsity fourth-year senior Cutter Grahn already has placed twice in state, fifth last year and sixth as a sophomore.
He is wrestling at 138 right now but Wheeler expects him to trim down to 132.
Grahn placed at 119 last year in state with a 34-4 record.
“He should do well,” Wheeler said about Grahn.
“He has good abilities and he’s right at the top (of his weight class).”
Grahn could have some tough competition, though, because a couple of defending state champions are hovering around his weight at the Class 1A level.
“It depends what weight they end up in,” he said.
But Grahn isn’t going to back down.
“He’s shooting for a state championship,” Wheeler said.
The Spartans will be youthful with mostly sophomores and freshmen wrestling on varsity.
“We have a really good group of sophomores,” Wheeler said.
The coach said he expects a few of the sophomores to make it to state and maybe even a freshman or two.
“Next year we should be a really solid team,” Wheeler said.
About five or six of his youngsters have wrestled in club programs.
“It should be exciting to see what some of these younger guys will do.”
An interesting sidelight is that Forks has the most girls out for wrestling on the Peninsula.
The sport of wrestling is becoming more and more popular with the girls, and the Spartans have a full team of seven girls out.
“Girls can have their own team with their own coach if they have at least seven come out for the sport,” Wheeler said.
Forks is in the process of getting the girls their own coach, he said. The girls wrestling team will be competing at separate girls meets.
All of that is thanks to Nicole Wade, a senior who wrestled at girls regionals last year, just missing state by one win.
Wade wanted a girls team for Forks, and so she went out and recruited girls for the sport, Wheeler said.
“She was pushing for seven.”
Sequim Wolves
SEQUIM — Seniors Dakota Hinton and Clay Charley will be leaders of the Sequim wrestling team for the second year in a row.
“They were voted team co-captains for the second straight season,” Sequim’s fifth-year coach Len Borchers said.
Hinton is the top returning athlete, going 29-10 as a junior and participating in state. That was the second year that he compiled at least 20 victories.
Charley, meanwhile, captured third at districts and fifth at regionals, missing state by one win.
Both wrestlers are looking for solid competition to start the year after being awarded forfeits at last week’s dual meet against defending Olympic League champion Klahowya.
Hinton was at 182 pounds while Charley was listed at heavyweight (285).
“Clay is at 230 right now but I expect him to be down to 220, which is a new weight class and should be good for him,” Borchers said.
Hinton’s wrestling weight will go down to 170 soon, the coach said.
“Dakota is looking pretty good,” Borchers said.
Two state qualifiers from last year will not be with the team this season.
Junior Derek Fruin (22-14 last winter) moved out of the area and is attending Onalaska High School while senior Austin Middleton (21-15) currently isn’t out for the team.
Amariah Clift, a sophomore last year who went to state in girls competition and just missed placing by one win, will miss this season because she is a foreign exchange student in Spain.
“She will be back her senior year,” Borchers said.
There will be several other experienced Sequim wrestlers to watch this year including junior Luke Mooney at 145, senior Cody Field at 152 and junior Lopaka Yasumura at 170.
“Luke is looking real strong,” Borchers said.
Yasumura, meanwhile, will get down to 160 soon, according to the coach.
Senior Cole Morgan “is coming along” at 132 while senior Austin Leach is new to the program.
Leach moved to Sequim from Georgia, where he finished a win away from state in regionals as a junior.
Another headliner worth watching is sophomore Royhon Agostine at 113, Borchers said.
The wrestling numbers started at the low 30s for the Wolves at the beginning of winter practice.
Sequim has four girls out for the sport for the first time.
“They are all in the 100 to 130 weight classes, so they can compete with each other,” Borchers said.
They are scheduled to wrestle in an all-girl tournament this coming weekend.
“We’ll see how they stack up against girls from other teams,” Borchers said.
Overall, the Wolves are excited to see how they stack up against other Olympic League teams.
Port Townsend Redskins
PORT TOWNSEND — There’s a new sheriff in town as home-grown product Steve Grimm takes over the wrestling program after assisting in it the past several years.
The 2000 Port Townsend graduate and outstanding prep wrestler, takes over from longtime coach Joey Johnson.
Even though the Redskins return no state-experienced wrestlers, Grimm said he feels good about the talent level and varsity experience he has on this team.
The new coach is counting on strong leadership from co-captains Justin Mead, Dillon Ralls and Dillon Kelly.
Kelly is a senior while Mead and Ralls are both juniors.
“They are very good leaders,” Grimm said.
All three are starting the season on a strong note with Mead winning a hat and Ralls just missing a hat at Port Townsend’s own Hat Trick Tournament on Saturday.
There were five teams at the tourney or wrestle against each other in four dual meets. Individual performers who win three of their four matches win real hats.
Mead went 3-1 at 132 pounds while Ralls was 2-2 at 145. They both wrestled up at higher weights at the tourney like most the other Redskin wrestlers did.
Mead has regional experience, just missing a state berth last year.
“Mead did really well at the tournament,” Grimm said.
“And Ralls has lost to only state placers so far this year.”
Ralls lost 8-2 to two-time state placer Cutter Grahn of Forks earlier this year.
Other teams at Hat Trick Tournament were Tenino, Omak, Montesano and Vashon Island.
“There were a lot of state placers at the tournament,” Grimm said.
“We did well as a team.”
Another Port Townsend standout to watch this year is Addison Harper, a junior who was a regional placer as a freshman, qualifying for state but missing the Big Dance after blowing out his shoulder in his final regional match.
Harper missed his entire sophomore season because of the injury.
But he’s back and he’s hungry to make a name for himself.
“We’re expecting a lot from him,” Grimm said.
Harper is not disappointing as he earned his hat in Saturday’s tourney by going a perfect 4-0 at 132.
“He did really well Saturday,” Grimm said.
One other Port Townsend wrestler won a hat. Freshman Shae Shoop, who weighs only 88 pounds, captured a hat at 106 pounds.
There were only two at that weight class, so Shoop had to beat the other opponent two out of three times to win the hat.
“It’s great to watch Shae wrestle,” Grimm said.
There are only four seniors on the team, which is good news for the future of the program.
The varsity experience the younger wrestlers get will help the Redskins down the road, Grimm said.
The bad news is that only 21 athletes came out for the sport and the Redskins already have lost three of them to early season fractures.
Port Townsend will be giving up a lot of forfeits in dual meets this year
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Sports Editor Brad LaBrie can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at brad.labrie@peninsuladailynews.com.