BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — The Port Angeles wrestling team capped a busy weekend by taking third place out of 11 teams at the Island Invitational at Bainbridge High School on Saturday.
The Roughriders’ third-place finished came a day after they beat archrival Sequim 51-21 in an Olympic League dual Friday night.
Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Townsend and Forks all competed at the Invitational on Saturday, with the Spartans also finishing in the top five.
Port Angeles (153 points) finished behind second-place Klahowya (156) and tournament champion Kingston (197), with Andrew Symonds the lone Rider champ in the 140-pound weight class.
“All in all not a bad day, but having said that, the kids that we did bring we had a tough day,” said Port Angeles coach Erik Gonzalez, whose Riders won the Rainshadow last weekend.
“We know we’ve got to get better if we’re going to catch up to Kingston again.”
Second-place finishers for the Riders included Josh Basden at 103, Brian Sullivan at 152, Brian Cristion at 171 and Jacob Dostie in at 215.
Nathan Cristion received his first loss of the year after going into the tournament 23-0. He ended up placing third in a bracket that included two other state wrestlers.
The Spartans took fifth place as the smallest school at the competition.
Cutter Grahn was the Spartans’ lone champion in the 119 weight class.
Tyler Cortani took second place at 125 for the Spartans after losing 5-0 to last year’s state champ, and Dayne House took second from a 1-0 loss at 130.
The Wolves showed up a little short-handed Saturday and ended the day in eighth place.
Derek Fruin was the lone champion for the Wolves, winning his 135-pound final 10-1 for his second tournament victory in two weeks.
Clay Charlie battled hard in the finals as well but came up short, losing 3-2 in the second overtime to take second place at 285.
Port Townsend finished in last place at the Island Invitational with a score of 33 and no wrestlers placing in top spots.
Port Angeles will next travel to Klahowya for a rematch Wednesday.
Forks travels to Tenino the same night, and Sequim makes its way over to North Kitsap on Wednesday.
BREMERTON 54, PORT TOWNSEND 27
BREMERTON — The Redskins fought hard against the Knights on Friday but couldn’t keep up after having to forfeit four matches.
Justin Mead won in the 119-pound weight class with a pin at one minute, 33 seconds while Mikael Callahan took the 130 by forfeit. Kris Windle won with a 3-2 decision at 152.
PORT ANGELES 51, SEQUIM 21
SEQUIM — The Riders went 6-4 in head-to-head matches to beat the Wolves in Friday’s Olympic League match.
Josh Basden won by pin in the 103-pound weight class, and Andrew Symonds took the decision at 140.
Other winners included Trevor Lee (160), Zack Grahl (189), Jacob Dostie (215) and Nathan Cristion (285).
Austin Middleton won by pin at 130 for Sequim. Dakota Hinton (171), Cody Fields (145) and Derek Fruin (135) won by decision.
