FORKS — Forks wrestlers combined for 12 individual weight class championships as the Spartans dominated the Class 2B Southwest District Tournament at Forks on Wednesday.
Ten boys wrestlers won championships as the Spartans posted 294.5 team points to leave second-place Ilwaco (133.5) in the dust.
“It went really well for us,” Forks coach Kyle Weakley said. “We had a wrestler in the finals for every weight class except 160 pounds where we didn’t enter anybody and at heavyweight where we didn’t enter anybody.”
Winning district championships for the Spartans boys were: Matthew Montes (106); Connor Demorest (120); Dalton Kilmer (126); William Perez (132); Walker Wheeler (138); Colton Duncan (145); Jake Weakley (170); Nate Dahlgren (182); Hayden Queen (195) and Hayden Baker (195).
“One match that stood out to us was Nate Dahlgren at 170,” Weakley said. “He’s a freshman, and his trajectory for improving is so high. He wrestled a kid that he lost to at least once, and he beat him.”
Duncan beat Stevenson’s Andy LaCombe, a two-time state participant, by pin at 3:27 of their final.
“Connor Demorest was dominant at 120. He blew through everybody he faced. He’s put in a lot of work and that showed,” Weakley said.
Jake Weakley of Forks and Logan Hoffberger wrestled what Kyle Weakley said was probably the most competitive match of the day.
“My son, Jake Weakley at 152, wrestled a Stevenson kid who was sixth at 126 last year, and Jake was fourth at 132, and it was a four-point decision,” Weakley said.
The biggest surprise for Forks was William Perez’s win at 132.
“He was seeded third or fourth, and he definitely wrestled above his seed,” Weakley said.
Jesus Garcia Domanguez (113) and Hector Dominguez (220) each finished second for the Spartans.
Sloan Tumaua placed third at 220 and Sebastian Qunneke was fourth for Forks at 182.
The Spartans’ girls posted 35 team points to finish second behind Wahkiakum (88).
“Peyton Johnson and Zoie Davis, they had to wrestle each other at 105, and Peyton beat her twice,” Weakley said. “And Karen Ensastegui-Salazar, a great kid who does everything right, she had a three-girl round robin, and she won her weight class.”
Jameson Demorest was third in the 145/155 class, and Morgan Rule placed fourth (170/180).
“Jameson had a full bracket,” Weakley said.
Ensastegui-Salazar will graduate Saturday and plans to study business at the University of Washington.
Forks will lose Duncan and Baker to graduation from the boys team.
“That’s five state medals between the three wrestlers,” Weakley said.
Weakley said his team made the most of the opportunity to wrestle this season.
“We definitely maximized our opportunities this year,” Weakley said. “I was joking with kids and told them that in a normal year, it’s tough to get teams out to Forks. So with the COVID situation, we were able to host our tournaments, a league tournament and this district tournament. So it was a little bit of a silver lining with our kids able to finish in home gym with some fans — a good way to cap things off for the seniors.”
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-406-0674 or mcarman@peninsuladaily news.com.
