Forks boys win The Rock
Fourth tournament the Spartans have won this year
By Pierre LaBossiere
Olympic Peninsula
News Group
Forks Spartans.
VASHON ISLAND — The Forks boys wrestling team took home another first-place trophy, winning The Rock Tournament on Vashon Island the weekend before last.
The Spartans previously won their home tournament and the Tony Saldivar Ironman in Granger as well as the Rainier Duals.
The Spartans sent wrestlers to the championship bouts in eight out of the 14 weight divisions. Forks finished with 194.5 points, well ahead of second place Lakeside (9 Mile) and Montesano with 151.5 each.
Winning their weight divisions were Conner Demorest at 126 pounds and Kaleb Blanton at 152 points. Demorest won his championship bout with a 14-10 decision over Aksel Espeland of Darrington, while Blanton won with a second-round pin over Gage Stugesman of Montesano.
Making it to the championship bouts and finishing second were Matthew Montes at 106 pounds, Jesus Garcia-Dominguez at 113, Walker Wheeler at 145, Nate Dahlgren at 182 and Sloan Tumaua at 220. Finishing fourth was Sebastian Qunneke at 195 pounds.
Girls
PUYALLUP — The Forks girls wrestled at the Rogers Holiday tournament with several Spartans picking up places going up against competitors mostly from 3A and 4A schools.
Forks picked up 28 points and finished 19th. The Spartans’ best finish was fourth place by Lillianna Galeana at 110 pounds. Miley Blanton came in fifth at 125 pounds and Natalie Horejsi sixth at 115. Jameson Demorest at 125 pounds also won a pair of matches.
Yelm won the tournament.
BATTLE OF THE AXE: Forks wins another tourney
PORT ANGELES — The Forks boy’s wrestling team won its fifth tournament of the year, taking first at the Battle of the Axe held at Port Angeles High School.
Sixteen teams and more than 100 wrestlers participated in the tournament, which featured team duals rather than weight brackets.
Forks began the tournament by beating East Jefferson 72-9, followed up with a 50-17 win over South Whidbey and River Ridge 66-15.
These wins put Forks in the championship bracket. The Spartans beat North Mason in the first round 60-15, then beat Washington, a 2A school, 48-28 in the first-place team match.
Several Spartans went undefeated on the day. Nate Dahlgren at 182 pounds, Sloan Tumaua at 220 pounds and Walker Rondeau at 126 pounds all went 5-0. Conner Demorest at 126 pounds went 4-0 and Matthew Montes was 3-0 at 106 pounds. Kevin Camacho Roldan went 4-1 at 138 pounds and Kaleb Blanton 3-1 at 152 pounds.
Port Angeles won its first match 37-36 and followed up with a 48-27 win over Fife.
In the championship bracket, Washington beat the Roughriders 55-24 and North Mason just edged the Riders 39-36 in the third-place dual.
Port Angeles’ Raymond Rodriguez was perfect on the day, going 4-0 in the 126-pound weight division. Trevor Collins was 3-1 at 182 pounds and Thomas Arand was 3-1 at 195 pounds. Zan Miller at 220 and Ethan Abrams at 152 each won two matches.
Sequim was beaten by North Mason 53-21, but the Wolves came back and beat Kingston 54-24 and Franklin Pierce 42-21.
The Wolves lost their first dual in the consolation bracket 33-32 to South Whidbey but came back to win their seventh-place match 48-0 over Lakes.
Sequim’s Ari Skov at 170 pounds had a perfect day, going 3-0. Dylan Bowen at 182 went 3-1 and James Mason at 138 went 2-1.
After losing to Forks, East Jefferson lost to River Ridge 36-24 and South Whidbey 54-24. Then the Rivals bounced back by beating Kingston 54-0 in the first round of the consolation bracket, then lost to Olympic 48-24.
East Jefferson’s Jameson Henery had a great day, going 4-0 at 160 pounds. Beau Manuel at 285, Rylan Dunn at 132 and Manaseh Lanpher-Ramirez at 145 all won two matches.
None of the individual results listed include forfeits.
Girls
Several Olympic Peninsula girls won their weight divisions in the Girls Battle of the Axe, also held in Port Angeles.
Port Angeles’ Willow Harvey took first at 120-127 pounds with two pins and a forfeit.
For Forks, LaRayne Blair took first at 94-102 pounds with a pair of pins. Her teammate, Peyton Johnson, took first at 113-118 pounds with three straight pins.
Sequim’s Isabella Diaz was first at 119 pounds with a pin and a pair of decisions.
Ivy Hill of East Jefferson was first at 128-130 pounds with three straight pins.
Girls finishing second included:
Allie Coons, Forks, 94-102.
Lillianna Galeana, Forks, 104-109.
Faye Dachs, PA, 107-113.
Miley Blanton, Forks, 119.
Julia Baeder, PA, 128-130.
Sam Smith, PA, 131-140.
