SPORTS: Area wrestlers claim state hardware

TACOMA — Sequim’s Dakota Hinton finished his high school wrestling career on a high note by capturing third place at the Mat Classic at the Class 2A level Saturday.

Port Angeles junior Brian Cristion also made it to the third-fourth place medal round, claiming fourth in 2A action and setting the table for another strong run at state his senior year.

Only five wrestlers from the North Olympic Peninsula placed at state but several just missed the medal rounds with close consolation losses.

Forks senior Cutter Grahn captured seventh place in 1A competition while Ozzy Swagerty and Michael Myers of Port Angeles both placed eighth for medals.

The top state performance, though, goes to Hinton, who ended his career by going 4-1 at state and 37-6 for the year at 170 pounds. This is the first time he has medaled at Mat Classic.

Last year Hinton went into state with a regional No. 4 ranking behind two Klahowya wrestlers who captured the top two spots at state.

He had some tough matches right off the bat and never recovered enough to place.

This year he rolled through the first two rounds with pins, then lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Tyler Coates of Ellensburg.

Hinton got caught in a throw by Coates and got pinned.

“That match could have gone either way,” Sequim coach Len Borchers said.

“If Dakota was in the other bracket, he probably would have been in the finals.”

A lot of area wrestlers came back disappointed about their results but Hinton good about his finish.

“Dakota came in ranked third and he got third place,” Borchers said. “It was a pretty good day for him.

“State is a tough, tough venue. Dakota wrestled some solid kids this year; so he was prepared [for state].”

Along the way, Hinton beat Jason Jorgensen of Deer Park twice to take third. Jorgensen placed in state last year and ended up in fourth this year, getting pinned by Hinton in the third-place match.

Also for Sequim, Clay Charlie and Luke Mooney just missed making it to the medal rounds, losing close matches.

Mooney, at 138, lost two close matches, including 8-4, to get into the medal round.

“Luke was trailing just 6-4 in that match but got caught in a reversal late,” Borchers said.

Rider wrestlers

Cristion also had a strong showing, losing a 7-2 decision to Dante Gray of Sehome in the third-place match.

“Any time you get a medal at state, the kids are exciting about that,” Port Angeles coach Erik Gonzalez said.

Swagerty and Myers wished, though, that they would have finished higher, Gonzalez said.

Still, placing at state is a big accomplishment, the coach added.

The Roughriders took seven athletes to state and six of them won at least one match.

Three placed and two were a win from placing and probably should have placed, Gonzalez said.

All the Riders who placed and the two who barely missed placing are coming back next year.

Freshman sensation Brady Anderson and junior powerhouse Kody Steele both came up just short of a medal.

And both lost matches they shouldn’t have lost, Gonzalez said.

Anderson led the whole way in the match that led straight to the medal competition but gave up a reversal with 10 seconds left, losing the match by one.

“If the reversal happened earlier, Brady could have reversed the kid for the win but he didn’t have enough time,” Gonzalez said.

“Otherwise, Brady would have medaled.”

Steele, meanwhile, was way ahead in the match that guarantees the winner a medal but got caught late and pinned.

“Kody was probably being overly aggressive,” Gonzalez said.

“We encourage the kids to be aggressive, but you have to be smart and pick your moments. Kody didn’t pick his moments.

“We felt that both Brady and Kody should have medaled.

“Overall, all our kids wrestled well. Five of the seven are coming back with invaluable state experience.

“That can only help them next year.”

Swagerty, according to Gonzalez, became the talk of the tournament at one point.

In his second match, Swagerty was easily beating his opponent, a senior, and was getting ready to pin him.

But the senior bit hard into Swagerty’s chest, digging his teeth in, but nobody could see it.

“Ozzy began screaming,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez thought one of Swagerty’s arms was being bent at a funny angle or something that was causing him pain and told him to bear down and finish the pin.

“Which he did, but after he earned the pin and got up, he told the referee that he was bitten.

“The kid made deep, deep bite marks.”

The senior was disqualified while Swagerty became the talk of the Tacoma Dome for being so tough.

“Ozzy became the talk of the tournament for finishing his match despite while being bitten,” Gonzalez said.

“I’m glad he kept wrestling and didn’t do something to the other kid that would have got him disqualified.”

Both Cristion and Swagerty had beaten opponents who had beaten them earlier in the year.

Grahn seventh

Forks senior Cutter Grahn didn’t have his best finish with a seventh place but he was in a super-tough weight class at 132.

“His bracket was screwed up and he went against a tough kid early,” Forks coach Bob Wheeler said.

Grahn, who came in with only one loss, to a 3A state champion, had two close losses at state.

The Spartans overall had bad luck with five wrestlers losing close matches that would have put them in the medal rounds.

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