LAKEWOOD — Port Townsend’s Chloe Rogers went 3-0 and won her weight class at the Lipstick Open girls wrestling tournament at Lakes High School.
It was downhill from there for Rogers.
The tournament has Lipstick Open moniker because, along with their medals, the champions of each weight are given bright lipstick to put on and kiss their winning bracket.
“It a funny thing they do I guess,” Port Townsend wrestling coach Chloe Rogers said.
“Chloe doesn’t per se like a lot of makeup, but she reluctantly entertained the tournament staff and did it. Then immediately wiped it off. But I got it on film.”
Rogers also made up for her loss to Sequim’s Alma Mendoza two days earlier by edging Mendoza in Saturday’s 140-pound finals.
Rogers earned an escape with 14 seconds remaining and then held on to defeat Mendoza 5-4.
“After the last match with Mendoza, I was very critical of [Rogers],” Grimm said.
“To truly be the best, you have to be the best on even your worst day — sick, hurt, stressed, et cetera — because you never know how you will feel at state.
“I think Thursday she was trying to get through the match and ‘not to lose’ rather than trying to win the match.
“Well in this match, at the tournament, she wrestled to win and she won.”
Before facing Mendoza, Rogers opened with a third-round pin and then pinned Redmond’s Nadia Medvinksy in the first round of the semifinals.
Rogers also defeated Medvinksy a week earlier 14-4 in Puyallup.
Ally Bradley and Brenna Franklin each placed third for the Redhawks at Saturday’s tournament.
Bradley started off the 110-pound bracket with a loss but battled back to win her next two matches, including a 7-6 victory in her last match.
“Ally just never gives up,” Grimm said.
“Again she got behind, but in the final round she was able to get two takedowns and go ahead by two points. When the [other] girl got an escape with 30 seconds left to come within one point, my heart was racing but Ally stayed cool and was able to defend against the girl’s attempt to shoot and won the match by one point.
“She wrestled great all day.”
Bradley was wrestling her first tournament in the 110-pound class, having recently dropped down a class from 115 pounds.
Franklin placed third in the 155-pound division.
She also recently moved to a lower weight division, dropping from 170 pounds.
“She was already pretty dominate at 170 pounds, and now at 155 pounds it’s even more,” Grimm said.
Franklin won her first and third matches with quick pins, but fell by first-round pin to No. 1-ranked Raquel Gray of Spanaway Lake.
“Brenna kept saying how strong the girl was. I didn’t wrestle her but I agreed,” Grimm said.
Port Townsend also had Kali Hill competing at the Lipstick Open. She didn’t play in the 130-pound division, but still showed improvement.
“I think she had the best match of the year,” Grimm said. “She could not come up with a win, but wrestling is like other sports, you got to take some beatings before you get good.”
BOYS WRESTLING
Sequim wins Klahowya tournament
SILVERDALE — Craig Baker and Grant Pierson earned individual titles as the Wolves claimed the team title at the first Keigan Langholff Memorial tournament hosted by Klahowya.
Sequim racked up 178 points and finished 27 points ahead of second-place Aberdeen at Saturday’s 12-school tournament. Port Angeles took 11th and Port Townsend came in 12th.
Baker took first in the 138-pound class by defeating Port Angeles’ Kenny Soule in the first-place match by pin at the 1-minute, 7-second mark.
Pierson won the 145-pound division by pinning teammate Hayden Gresli by pin at 3:48.
Kevyn Ward (160 pounds), Adrian Klarich (182) and Michael Latimer (220) also had runner-up finishes for the Wolves, while Dylan Perreira (170) took third and Travis Baker (152) and McKenzie Stockdale placed fourth their respective divisions.
Jesse Salgado placed fourth for Port Angeles in the 170-pound class.
Port Townsend’s only placer was Jacob Massie, who tied with Sequim’s Stockdale for fourth in the 285-pound class.
The Redhawks were without one of their captains, 152-pounder Jacob Kinney, who goes to Chimacum but wrestles with the Port Townsend team.
Kinney broke his leg at the double dual against Sequim and Port Angeles in Sequim.
“As a team we all felt really bad for him. He was a fighter and wrestled with a huge heart never giving up. He will be greatly missed at practice,” Port Townsend coach Steve Grimm said.
“Just before he got hurt I watched him get put onto his back and into a tight pinning combination. He never quit, and somehow he managed to get out and put his opponent on his back. True determination in that kid.
“The other saddening thing was this was his senior year, and he missed postseason his sophomore year and all of his junior year with a shoulder injury. He was working so hard this year, determined to finally get a chance to wrestle at the state tournament.”
GYMNASTICS
Port Angeles takes second
LACEY — The Roughriders’ winning streak ended at five meets at the hands of a larger school at Black Hills Gymnastics.
Class 4A Olympia won Saturday’s team competition with a total score of 167.4. Port Angeles, a 2A school, finished second with a score of 150.95.
It was the Riders’ final regular season. The open the postseason with sub-districts Feb. 4 at Mount Rainier High School. Their postseason will be against 2A and 3A schools, which means they won’t have to face Olympia.
The only other school to beat Port Angeles this season was Mount Rainier, which also is a 4A school.
Maya Wharton led the Riders with a fourth-place finish in the all-around, racking up a score of 32.55.
Wharton took third in the floor exercise (9.0), fourth on the vault (8.4) and sixth on the bars (6.4) and beam (8.75).
Cassii Middlestead also placed in the top 10 for the Riders, finishing eighth with a score of 31.1. She was third on the balance beam (9.1) and fifth on the bars (6.7).
Sydney Miner recorded three top-10s for Port Angeles, taking eighth in the vault (8.1) and beam (8.6) and ninth on the floor (8.5).
Junior Nikaila Price had one top-10 showing for the Riders, coming in 10th in the vault with a score of 8.1.
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Compiled using team reports.
