SILVERDALE — Forks crushed the competition at its Region 1 meet, winning seven weight classes, placing 19 wrestlers and sending a total of 19 male and female wrestlers to the Class 1A Mat Classic on Friday and Saturday — the most ever for a powerful Spartans program.
Forks tallied 305 points at the Region 1 meet at Klahowya High School on Saturday, more than 100 points ahead of second-place Montesano with 195.5 points
Coach Bob Wheeler said the Spartans have sent as many as 13 wrestlers to state before, but never this many. Fifteen Forks boys qualified outright for the Mat Classic, while three more will get to attend and possibly wrestle as alternates. Marissa Bailey of Forks finished third in the 100-pound weight class at her regional and will go to the girls’ Mat Classic.
“We started with 19 boys wrestling in the tournament and actually only had one wrestler who did not place,” said coach Bob Wheeler.
“As always there were some disappointments, but overall there were more happy surprises than there were disappointments. We are just going to have until next week to see how we will come out at the state tournament,” Wheeler said.
Last year, with a smaller contingent of 12 wrestlers, Forks came in sixth in the state at the Mat Classic. They return to the classic with 15 boys who qualified outright, including Josue Lucas, the defending state champ at 106 pounds and several other wrestlers who placed last year.
Port Townsend finished ninth at the meet and Chimacum 10th. Port Townsend will send three wrestlers to the Mat Classic while Chimacum will send two.
Forks was so dominant they actually had 11 grapplers wrestling in the regional finals, with two pairs of Forks wrestlers going up against each other for their weight class championship. Forks won seven of those 11 championship bouts, with two Spartans losing to their teammates.
Spartans winning their weight classes were:
• Josue Lucas, 106 pounds
• Cru Demorest, 120 poiunds
• Colton Duncan, 126 pounds
• Colby Demorest, 160 pounds (Beating teammate Brett Moody for the championship)
• Shane Queen, 170 pounds
• Luke Dahlgren, 220 pounds (Beating teammate Tristan Pisani for the title)
• Nathan Flores, 285 pounds
Spartans finishing second in their weight classes were Moody, Pisani, Andres Santos-Delacruz (113 pounds) and Eden Cisneros (195). Forks wrestlers finishing third were Ariel Morales (126), Keith Thompson (132), Thomas Jackson (285) and Bryan Elena (182).
These wrestlers all qualified outright for the Mat Classic this weekend. Three other Forks wrestlers — Wesley Gonzalez-Camacho (120 pounds), Hayden Baker (132), Keith Kullander (145) — qualified as alternates by finishing fifth.
Port Townsend, Chimacum
Several Port Townsend and Chimacum wrestlers did well, too.
Ryan Caldwell of Chimacum finished second at 182 pounds. His brother Kyle finished fourth at 195 pounds. They both go to the Mat Classic.
Gabe Petrick of Port Townsend finished third at 160 pounds, while Dylan Tracer finished fourth at 170, both qualifying for the Mat Classic. Tucker Booth of Port Townsend, finished fifth at 285, going to the Tacoma Dome as an alternate.
Port Townsend’s Jesus Duran finished sixth at regionals at 132 pounds, earning a placement, but not high enough for state.
The Redhawks’ Brenna Franklin also qualified for the girls’ Mat Classic, finishing second at 155 pounds.
Sequim, Port Angeles
The best finish for 2A schools was by Sequim’s Kiara Pierson, who won her 135-pound weight division championship at the girls regionals at Decatur High School in Federal Weay.
The Sequim boys picked up a pair of second-place finishes. Jamie Schroepfer of Sequim got second at 132 pounds, while teammate Ben Newell was second at 145 pounds.
Qualifying for the Mat Classic were Port Angeles’ Daniel Basden, who finished fourth at 120 pounds, and Kenny Soule, fourth at 152 pounds. Roughrider Dom Timperio finished fifth at 195 pounds, qualifying as an alternate.
Sequim’s Chris Puksta finished sixth at 152 pounds, while Port Angeles’ Scott Hedin was sixth at 106 pounds.
Sequim was 12th at regionals with 42 team points, while Port Angeles was 13th with 39. Burlington-Edison won the 2A Region 2 meet with 185 points.
Cru Demorest (left) of Forks defeated Brian Spillman of Klahowya. He went on to take first place in regionals at 120 pounds. (Lonnie Archibald/Peninsula Daily News)
Forks’ Josue Lucas, the defending 106-pound state champion, won regionals again this year. (Lonnie Archibald/for Peninsula Daily News)
