LACEY — The Forks boys wrestling team won its seventh invitational meet of the year, beating out 16 other mostly 3A and 4A schools at the River Ridge Rumble this weekend.
Forks won with 167 points, edging out 4A Camas’ 158 points.
The Spartans, who wrestle at 2B, were led by Kaleb Blanton, who took first at 152 pounds and Sloan Tumaua, who won the 220-pound division. Blanton won with four straight pins, including a pair of wins over wrestlers from 3A Timberline and 3A Bainbridge, followed up with a pin over Jagger Morris from 4A Camas.
Meanwhile, Tumaua won with three pins and a 12-5 decision over Wyatt Goade from Bainbridge in the championship match.
Forks’ Sloan Tumaua, left and Kaleb Blanton celebrate their first-place finishes at the River Ridge Rumble in Lacey this weekend. Tumaua won at 220 pounds and Blanton at 152 pounds. (Courtesy of Forks Wrestling)
In all, nine Spartans placed among the top four wrestlers in their weight divisions.
Matthew Montes made it to the championship match at 106 pounds with three straight pins. He was beaten in the championship in a 12-7 decision by Talatheon Warness of 2A Aberdeen to finish second.
Walker Rondeau also made it to the championship match at 132 pounds. He won with a pair of pins and a major decision, then was pinned in the second round by Kristian Brant of 2A Black Hills in the championship match to pick up another second place for the Spartans.
The Spartans also picked up a third place from Abraham Montealegre at 106 pounds, going 4-1 on the day, a third from Conner Demorest at 126, also with four wins and a loss, and a third place from Nate Dahlgren at 182 pounds with four straight wins after an opening-match loss.
Jesus Garcia Domanguez came in fourth at 113 pounds with three wins, and Kevin Camacho Roldan was fourth at 138 pounds with four wins and two losses.
For the girls, Miley Blanton came in third at 120 pounds with five wins and a loss.
Peyton Johnson at 115 pounds, Riley Tjepkema at 140 and Jameson Demorest at 120B all came in fourth place.
This season, the Forks boys have won their own home tournament, the Battle of the Axe in Port Angeles, the Rainier Duals tournament, the Sgt. Justin Norton invite, the Tony Saldivar invite, the Rock invitational on Vashon Island and now the River Ridge Rumble.
The Spartans were scheduled to wrestle in a conference meet Monday, then are scheduled to travel to Poulsbo with a dual versus North Kitsap and Port Angeles on Wednesday. They have one more major tournament, the “Berserker” at Curtis High School this weekend.
