ADNA — The Forks boys wrestling team dominated regionals, winning the team championship by a huge margin, while East Jefferson got a pair of great performances, including an individual regional championship, and Port Angeles will be sending a total of eight boys and girls to the Mat Classic.
A total of 24 wrestlers from the North Olympic Peninsula qualified for the Mat Classic next weekend, either as competitors or as alternates. Forks had the biggest day, with 11 wrestlers — 10 boys and a girl — making state.
Forks dominated the Region 1 1B/2B meet in Adna with 215.5 team points, beating second-place Kalama (125.0) by nearly 100 points. Forks had four individual regional champions, three second-place finishes and three third-place finishes.
Winning regional championships were Conner Demorest at 120 pounds, Jake Weakley at 145 pounds (with three straight pins), Hayden Queen at 182 pounds (with three straight pins, including a pin in 28 seconds) and Sloan Tumaua at 220 pounds.
Peyton Johnson, Forks wrestling
Making it to their regional championship matches and finishing second were Dalton Kilmer at 126 pounds, who lost his championship match in a close 6-3 decision to Noah Cormier Higgins of Muckleshoot. Walker Wheeler finished second at 138 pounds and Nate Dahlgren came in second at 170, losing his championship match in an 8-4 decision to Damian Soto of Toledo.
Three Spartans finished third — Abraham Montealegre at 106 pounds, Jesus Garcia-Dominguez at 113 pounds and Walker Rondeau at 132 pounds.
Joining the boys will be Forks’ Peyton Johnson, who went 4-1 on the day at 110 pounds to finish third in the girls’ regional in Aberdeen.
Other Forks wrestlers who placed include Kaleb Blanton, who came in fifth at 145 pounds, and Jon Parker Jr., who was sixth at 170 pounds.
Port Angeles, Sequim
ORTING — Port Angeles had a number of excellent performances, helping the boys’ team finish sixth at the 2A Region 2 meet with 71 points, while the girls’ team came in fourth as a team with 62 points. Orting won the boys regional with 271.5 points while White River won the girls with 172 points. For the boys, Raymond Rodriguez finished third at 120 pounds, while freshman Phoenix Flores came in third at 126 pounds, going 3-1 on the day and winning his third-place match with a pin.
Zach Gavin won a pair of matches at 152 pounds to finish fourth, also qualifying for the Mat Classic. Qualifying as an alternate was Lance Menes, who finished fifth at 195 pounds.
Cash Coleman also placed sixth at 113 pounds and Thomas Arand was sixth at 170.
For the Roughrider girls, Kennedy Bruch made the championship match at 130 pounds, finishing second and qualifying for the Mat Classic. Bruch had to win a 4-2 sudden victory in overtime over Charlize Pasco of North Thurston in the semifinals to qualify for the championship match.
Bruch will be joined by the Riders’ Natalie Johnson, who finished third at 100 pounds, winning a 17-8 decision in her third-place match over Alanis Serrano-Rios of Spanaway Lake.
Faye Dachs qualified for state by finishing fifth at 115 pounds and Bailey Anderson is an alternate by finishing sixth at 140 pounds.
Sequim’s Cayden Beauregard qualified for the Mat Classic by finishing fourth at 106 pounds, while Aaron Tolberd came in fifth at 145 pounds to attend as an alternate. For the Sequim girls, Petra Bernsten qualified for the Mat Classic by finishing fifth at 140 pounds, beating Anderson in that match.
The Sequim boys finished 14th at regionals with 24 points, while the Sequim girls were 31st with 12 points.
East Jefferson
HOQUIAM — East Jefferson’s Logan Massie had a great regional, going 4-0 on the day with a pair of pins, a technical fall and an injury default to win the 170-pound WIAA 1A Region 1 regional championship.
He will be joined by teammate Lars Wakefield, who came in sixth at 285 pounds.
For the East Jefferson girls, Mi Amanda Lanphear-Ramirez made it to the championship match at the Region 3 meet and finished second to qualify for the Mat Classic.
The East Jefferson boys tallied 49.5 points to finish 13th at regionals, while the girls picked up 22 points, all from Lanphear-Ramirez’s performance, to finish 25th.
