ADNA — The Forks boys wrestling team racked up yet another regional championship, with three Spartans winning their weight classes and 10 members of the team qualifying for the state championship Mat Classic at the Tacoma Dome on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Forks girls also earned a regional champion in Miley Blanton and will send four members to the girls Mat Classic.
East Jefferson also earned a regional champion in Manaseh Lanphear-Ramirez, while the East Jefferson boys and girls, Sequim boys and Port Angeles boys and girls will send a combined total of six wrestlers to the Mat Classic.
Forks boys
The Spartans took home the Regional 1 1B/2B title with 186.5 points, easily beating second-place Rainier with 121 points.
Winning their weight classes were the Spartans’ two Walkers — Walker Wheeler and Walker Rondeau. Rondeau took first at 132 pounds, winning his championship match with a 16-0 technical fall and Wheeler took first at 144 pounds with a first-round pin in the title match.
Also winning his weight class was Nate Dahlgren at 190 pounds, and he had to fight for it, winning the title match of Zach Foreman of Kalama with a 9-8 decision.
Making it to the championship match and finishing second in their weight classes were Jesus Garcia-Dominguez at 113 pounds and Sloan Tumaua at 285 pounds.
Finishing third and qualifying for the Mat Classic were Abraham Montealegre at 113 pounds, Brian Lucas at 120 pounds and Landon Thomas at 138 pounds. Coming in fourth and also going to state was Jon Parker Jr. at 175, and coming in fifth and also going to the Tacoma Dome is Aiden Ivey at 150 pounds.
Last year, with a larger contingent of 16 wrestlers, the Forks boys finished second in the state. Tumaua is also a defending state champion, though last year, he won at 220 pounds. The Spartans usually finish in the top 10 every year at state.
Forks girls
The Forks girls finished seventh at the Region 2 1B/2B/1A/2A regionals. Blanton won a regional championship at 120 pounds with three straight pins.
She will be joined at the Tacoma Dome by Flora Horejsi, who finished third at 105 pounds, and Natalie Horejsi, who came in third at 110 pounds. Peyton Johnson also finished third at 115 pounds and will travel to Tacoma.
Forks finished with 72 team points. Winning the regional championship was 2A W.F. West with 167 points.
Port Angeles, Sequim boys and girls
Port Angeles’ Ethan Abrams made it to the championship match and came in second at 157 pounds at the Region 2 regionals held in Buckley.
At the same regional, Sequim’s Cayden Beauregard came in third at 113 pounds to qualify for state. He won his last two matches with an 11-0 major decision and a 16-0 technical fall.
Sequim’s Jayme Vilona at 144 pounds and Ari Skov at 175 pounds both finished fifth and are alternates for the Mat Classic.
Sequim finished 13th as a team at regionals with 34.5 points, while Port Angeles was 14th with 25. Orting won the Regional 2 championship with 336 points.
Port Angeles will send two girls to state. Willow Harvey finished second at 130 pounds and Faye Dachs was third at 115 pounds, both qualifying.
East Jefferson boys and girls
Lanphear-Ramirez won his 1A Region championship at 150 pounds. He took the title at the 1A regional held on Vashon Island with a tough 14-11 decision over Sean Price of Klahowya after winning his first two matches in a 16-0 technical fall and a pin at the end of the second round in the semifinals.
Only the top three wrestlers at the 1A level qualify for the Mat Classic. East Jefferson’s Grady White at 138 pounds finished fourth and will be an alternate. Levi Donahue at 157 pounds finished fifth.
The East Jefferson finished 10th as a team at regionals with 46.5 points.
For the East Jefferson girls, Mi Amada Lanphear-Ramirez took second place at 120 pounds and will qualify for state. Last year, she finished third at the Mat Classic.
The boys compete in divisions of 1B/2B, 1A and 2A. The girls will all compete in a combined 1B/2B/1A/2A tournament. Girls from 3A and 4A schools have been split off into their own tournament as more girls now compete in wrestling.
