PORT ANGELES — A huge contingent of wrestlers from all across the Olympic Peninsula qualified for the Mat Classic state championships beginning Feb. 20 at the Tacoma Dome.
More than 50 boys and girls from East Jefferson, Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks qualified at district tournaments this past weekend. One wrestler from Quilcene also qualified.
The final number will be bigger as the Forks girls, who expect to have several state qualifiers, including a legitimate state champion candidate in Jade Blair, don’t wrestle at district until next weekend.
Forks
Forks won the District 4 1B/2B championship by a wide margin, with six district champions and 18 boys qualifying for the Mat Classic. Forks will wrestle at the 2B level.
Forks tallied 403 points at district, well ahead of second-place Rainier at 278 points.
Winning district titles were Dominick Sanchez, 106 pounds; Orlando Camacho, 113 pounds; Braden Camacho, 126 pounds; Landon Thomas, 144 pounds; Adrian Sanchez, 165 pounds; and Kenneth Daman, 285 pounds.
Pedro Francisco (113 pounds) and Simeone Jackson-Cruz (132 pounds) each finished second, while Luis Ornelas (157 pounds) came in third.
Also qualifying for state were Adon Arellano (fourth, 150 pounds), Justin Sandoval (fifth, 120 pounds), Rigoberto Carrillo Hernandez (sixth, 138 pounds), Royer Pablo (sixth, 106 pounds), Jacob Hoschar (sixth, 215 pounds), Liam Miller (seventh, 126 pounds), Avery Greene (eighth, 285 pounds), Daniel Pressley (ninth, 120 pounds); and DaShaun Pena Greene (ninth, 157 pounds).
Port Angeles
The Port Angeles wrestling team will be sending 11 wrestlers to the 2A state meet and five alternates.
Kyler Williams at 126 pounds won the District 3 Olympic 2A championship. Finishing second were Cooper Nees at 165 pounds, Michael Wilhelm at 285 pounds, Oliver Martinez at 175 pounds and Quinn Messersmith at 215 pounds.
Also qualifying for state were Naman Hudson (fourth, 120 pounds), Marshall Springob (fourth, 126 pounds) and Lukas Teague (fourth, 138 pounds).
Making state as an alternate was Caydin Birdwell at 113 pounds.
The Port Angeles boys were fourth at district with 199 points. North Kitsap won with 254.
Bryelle Wopperer won a district championship for the Port Angeles girls at 155 pounds, while Lilly Lancaster (115 pounds) and Persephone Perry (135 pounds) were both second and will move on to state.
Port Angeles girls qualifying as alternates include Mya Hill (115 pounds), Alyssa Romero (120 pounds), Allie Callahan (170 pounds) and Presley Daughterty (190 pounds).
Sequim
Sequim’s Ryan Spelker won a district championship at 132 pounds. Finished second were Brandon Bair (106 pounds), Finn Jones (126 pounds) and Johnny Vilona (138 pounds). Coming in third was Riley Davis (144 pounds) while Levi Breithaupt (132 pounds) and Max Sivilli (215 pounds) finished fourth. All of these wrestlers will move on to the Mat Classic.
For the Sequim girls, Harper Campbell at 130 pounds and Story Snow at 125 both finished second and will go to the Mat Classic.
East Jefferson
The Rivals had several champions at the Nisqually 1A district, with the girls finishing second as a team and the boys third.
The Rivals boys had four district champions and will send six to state. Rylen Kruse took first at 175 pounds, Manaseh Lanphear Ramirez was first at 150, Grady White won the 165-pound division and Finn Evans was first at 144.
Alex Garcia was second at 215 pounds, and Ethan Perovich third at 175, and they will both go to state. Damien Ilarraza fourth at 215 and will be an alternate.
The East Jefferson boys finished with 125.5 points. Cascade Christian won with 259.5 points.
The girls will send eight to state. Savvy Grimm at 105 pounds and Gracee Liske at 125 pounds both won district championships. Kindle Iverson of Quilcene, who wrestles with East Jefferson, won a 1B district championship at 145 pounds. All three girls will move on the Mat Classic.
East Jefferson’s Ella Welte (170 pounds), Lavender Douglas (130 pounds) and Ruby Lehman (105 pounds), all finished second, while Leighton Dunn (120 pounds) and Grace Ayer (130 pounds) both finished third, with all these girls moving to state.
Coach Stephen Grimm said if Iverson’s finish had been included, the East Jefferson girls would have claimed the district championship. But it didn’t count because she wrestles at a different classification.
