FORKS — Forks’ Josue Lucas was the lone state champion from the North Peninsula and thus is the All-Peninsula Most Valuable Player.
Several other area wrestlers had great seasons and more than one came close to winning state championships and earned being named to the All-Peninsula Wrestling Team.
A total of 13 area male and female wrestlers (including two second-place and two third-place wrestlers and two pairs of siblings) earned places at the Mat Classic in the 1A and 2A categories, including seven from a very strong Forks squad that finished sixth in the state and four from a quietly efficient Sequim team.
The All-Peninsula Wrestling Team
• Josue Lucas
Forks High School
Lucas won the state champi•onship in the 106-pound 1A division with four wins at the Mat Classic. Lucas also won the 1A Regionals, the Evergreen 1A Sub-regionals and the Sgt. Justin Norton Memorial Wrestling Tournament. He went 35-4 on the season.
• Jack Dahlgren
Forks High School
Dahlgren, a senior, went 3-1 at 195 pounds at the Mat Classic, finished second in the state in the 1A Division. He narrowly lost the championship match 8-6 to a wrestler from Granger.
• Alma Mendoza
Sequim High School
Mendoza, 155-pound senior, won three matches at the Mat Classic and finished second in the state.
• Garrison Schumack
Forks High School
Schumack, a senior, at 145 pounds lost his second match at the Mat Classic, then rallied for four straight wins, including a win over the wrestler who beat him earlier in the tournament, to finish third in the state in the 1A Division.
• Cody McLain
Chimacum High School
McLain, a 220-pound Chimacum sophomore wrestling with Port Townsend’s wrestling squad, lost his first match at the Mat Classic, then rallied for four straight wins, winning his final match in overtime to take third place in the state in the 1A Division.
• Kiara Pierson
Sequim High School
Pierson and her brother Grant both placed at the Mat Classic. Pierson, a junior, won five out of six matches and finished third in the state at 120 pounds, narrowly beating a Meridian wrestler 2-1.
Grant Pierson
Sequim High School
Pierson, a senior, went 3-2 at the Mat Classic to finish fifth in the 2A Division at 160 pounds.
• Luke Dahlgren
Forks High School
Dahlgren, a sophomore, went 3-2 at the Mat Classic to finish fifth in the 1A Division at 220 pounds.
• Eden Cisneros
Forks High School
Cisneros, a sophomore, went 3-3 at the Mat Classic to finish sixth in the 1A Division at 195 pounds.
• Ben Basden
Port Angeles High School
Basden was the Roughriders’ lone placer at state. A senior, he won two matches at the Mat Classic to finish sixth in the 2A Division.
• Adrian Klarich
Sequim High School
Klarich rounded out a great showing by Sequim by going 3-2 at the Mat Classic to finish seventh in the 2A Division at 182 pounds.
• Nathan Flores
Forks High School
Flores, a 285-pound Forks junior went 3-2 at the Mat Classic to finish seventh in the state in the 1A Division. In his three wins at state, he outpointed his opponents 28-6.
• Brett Moody
Forks High School
Moody, another Forks sophomore, was the seventh Forks wrestler to place at the Mat Classic. Wrestling at 160 pounds, Moody won two matches to finish eighth in the state in the 1A Division.
Alma Mendoza, Sequim, second at state
Jack Dahlgren, Forks, second at state
Kiara Pierson, Sequim, third at state
Cody McLain, Chimacum, third at state
Garrison Schumack, Forks, third at state
Luke Dahlgren, Forks, fifth at state
Ben Basden, Port Angeles, sixth at state
Grant Pierson, Sequim, fifth at state
Eden Cisneros, Forks, sixth at state
Adrian Klarich, Sequim, seventh at state
Nathan Flores, Forks, seventh at state
Brett Moody, Forks, eighth at state, honorable mention
