TACOMA — A total of 55 Olympic Peninsula boys and girls from six schools will compete this weekend at the Mat Classic state wrestling championship at the Tacoma Dome, with Forks sending an especially large contingent of athletes.
The Mat Classic has expanded dramatically in the past year or two, especially on the girls’ side, stretching from two days in past years to three days this year, and that was felt on the Peninsula with four programs sending at least nine wrestlers to the event. Local kids will begin wrestling in the early rounds Friday with 3A and 4A schools wrestling Thursday. A total of 38 boys and 17 girls from the Peninsula will be at the Tacoma Dome.
Forks will be looking to place two teams at the Mat Classic with perhaps its biggest group ever — 24 total kids, which include 16 boys and eight girls. Port Angeles has 12, Sequim 10, East Jefferson eight and Quilcene one. Sequim has one of its strongest squads in years while East Jefferson has at least four wrestlers who could place.
Forks and Quilcene will compete at the 1B/2B level, and Sequim and Port Angeles at 2A. East Jefferson will compete at the 1A level. The East Jefferson and Forks girls will compete together at the 1A/2B/1B tournament, while Port Angeles and Sequim girls will compete in a 2A tournament.
Forks will be looking to place in the top 10 for the 12th straight year. Last year, the Spartans finished second in the state at the 1B/2B class and they were state champions in 2023. With 16 competitors, including four with excellent won-loss records, Forks has a solid chance of placing again.
The Forks girls are also looking to place for the first time ever and have five girls with outstanding records. In fact, the won-loss record for the entire Forks’ Mat Classic squad is 151-64 (70.2 percent).
Spartans who have the best chance to place at state include Dominick Sanchez at 106 pounds (32-7), Braden Camacho-Roldan at 126 (32-12) and Jon Parker Jr. at 175 (22-11).
The Spartans’ top wrestler could be Abraham Montealegre at 113 pounds. He has an outstanding record of 24-2. His toughest competition could be a previous state champion, Rodger Cate of Lake Roosevelt, who has a record this season of 28-3.
Other Forks grapplers at the Mat Classic include:
Roger Pablo, 106, 10-14.
Orlando Camacho, 120, 13-16.
Samuel Lopez-Rivera, 120, 6-7.
Just Sandoval, 126, 4-18.
Daniel Lopez, 132, 11-9.
Simeone Jackson-Cruz, 137, 23-19.
Landon Thomas, 138, 18-15.
Adrian Sanchez, 150 16-11.
Luis Ornelas, 157, 17-19.
Kenneth Daman, 285, 12-6.
Avery Greene, 285, 1-19.
The Forks girls are likewise a deep team. Jade Blair has a record of 24-2 at 125 pounds. Only Kiley Kaiser of Okanagan at 35-3 has a better record.
Peyton Johnson at 120 pounds is 22-4, while Kinley Rondeau at 100 is 23-7, Flora Horejsi at 105 is 22-9 and Lillianna Galeana at 110 is 16-3.
Other Forks girls include:
Viviana Luna, 120, 10-17.
LaRayne Blair, 130, 19-12.
Riley Tjepkema, 135, 15-10.
Sequim
Sequim has a deep boys’ team with nine going to the 2A championships, including five with outstanding won-loss records.
Jaymes Vilona leads the way at 144 pounds with a record of 30-6, while James Mason at 157 is 31-7. Brandon Bair at 106 has a record of 27-8, Dylan Bowen is 29-13 at 215 and Ryan Spelker at 126 is 31-16.
Other Sequim wrestlers include:
Finn Jones, 120, 24-13.
Johnny Vilona, 132, 18-10.
Aiden Glenn, 165, 16-20.
Max Silvilli, 285, 11-16.
Sequim has one girl at the Mat Classic, Bailey Stein, who has a 16-14 record at 120 pounds.
Port Angeles
Port Angeles has eight boys and four girls going to state, including three grapplers with good records.
The Roughriders’ best chances for a medal might be Oliver Martinez at 165 pounds (8-2 record) and John Grubb at 132 (13-6 record).
For the girls, Lilly Lancaster at 115 pounds has an outstanding 20-7 record.
Other Port Angeles wrestlers include:
Talan Newton, 126, 9-8.
Cole Anderson, 138, 7-5.
Lukas Teague, 144, 5-5.
Cooper Nees, 150, 8-7.
Quinn Messersmith, 215, 3-2.
Michael Wilhelm, 285, 4-9.
Other Port Angeles girls include:
Margaret Conkle, 105, 1-17.
Persephone Perry, 125, 17-11.
Bryelle Wopperer, 145, 14-8.
East Jefferson
The East Jefferson boys are only sending four boys to the 1A class, but they all have outstanding won-loss records and should have three or four wrestlers place.
Leading the way is Manaseh Lanphear Ramirez at 150 pounds, who has a record of 27-6 and Grady White at 157 with a record of 28-6. Rylen Kruse has a record of 22-6 at 175 pounds, while Silas Klontz is 16-7 at 190.
East Jefferson girls qualifying for the Mat Classic include Savvy Grimm at 105 pounds (12-8) Gracee Liske at 125 pounds (16-7), Grace Ayer at 130 (5-14) and Lenore Geelan at 140 (5-9).
There is also one Quilcene wrestler who will compete in the 1B/2B tournament, Mason Iverson. Iverson competed with the East Jefferson squad during the regular season as Quilcene has no wrestling program, but in postseason, he will compete for his school. His record is 18-9.
