FORKS — The Port Angeles wrestling team started the season off on a high note after winning the 37th annual Forks Invitational on Saturday.
The Roughriders won on the strength of six finalists, including four champions.
Overall, 12 Port Angeles individuals placed in the top five of their weight divisions.
Port Townsend, meanwhile, had three wrestlers place, including two runners-up.
The Riders won with a team score of 233.5 while Olympic was second with 222 and Elma third with 221.
Host Forks was fourth with 201 while the Redskins had 81 points for seventh place.
Other teams included Bethel, Tenino and Mount Tahoma.
Port Angeles individual champions included Brady Anderson at 113 pounds, Josh Basden at 120, Ozzy Swagerty at 126 and Roberto Coronel at 220.
Riders who took second were Tyler Gale at 106 and Michael Myers at 285. Claiming third place were Brian Cristion at 182, Sam Burton at 145 and Matt Robbins at 195.
Finishing in fourth were Gavin Crain at 132 and Kyle La Fritz at 220. Eric Wahl took fifth place at 220.
Basden, a senior, was named Roughrider wrestler of the week by coach Erik Gonzalez.
“In his first action since breaking his tibia and fibula last January, Josh was outstanding in winning the Forks Invite,” Gonzalez said.
Basden went 3-0 with two first-period pins and a come-from-behind win in the finals in which he trailed 4-1 at the end of the first period. He won 6-4.
Basden also is a 4.0 honor student carrying a challenging course load and was an academic wrestling state champion last year.
The Riders next wrestle at the Larry Brown Invitational at Fife High School on Saturday starting at 10 a.m.
Taking second for Port Townsend were Dillon Ralls at 145 and Trevor Garrett at 195.
Ralls, ranked 12th in state, lost in the finals to the No. 9-ranked wrestler from Elma.
Garrett, meanwhile, had a strong match in his weight class.
“Trevor wrestled real hard,” Port Townsend coach Stephen Grimm said.
In addition, Shae Shoop captured fourth place at 106.
There also was a JV round-robin competition at the tourney where Port Townsend’s Jacob Kinney won three out of his four matches at 132 pounds.
Malia Henderson, meanwhile, won two out of three of her round-robin matches in the girls varsity competition for the Redskins.
Boys Basketball
Wishkah Valley 54, Clallam Bay 35
CLALLAM BAY — The Bruins couldn’t contain hot-shooting Brady Anderson and dropped their first game of the year Saturday.
Anderson made four 3-pointers to score 25 points and lead Wishkah to the win.
“They shot better from the 3-point line than we did,” coach Kelly Gregory said.
Gregory’s son, Kelly Gregory, sank a team-high 13 points and he also had a team-high nine rebounds to go along with three assists.
Ryan Willis collected seven boards while Austin Ritter and Matt Mohr had five each.
Thomas Cheeka led the team with four assists.
The Bruins next will host the Forks varsity today.
“That will be a tough one,” Gregory said about the Spartans.
“But that’s good for us.”
Forks, a 1A school, is 2-0 on the year and has a win against 2A Port Angeles.
Wishkah 54, Clallam Bay 35
Wishkah 13 13 15 13— 54
Clallam Bay 6 10 12 7— 35
Individual scoring
Wishkah Valley (54)
Brady Anderson 25, Thein 7, C. Anderson 5, Arnold 3, Bitezell 9, Berge 4.
Clallam Bay (35)
Kelly Gregory 13, Cheeka 3, Goplen-Dean 3, Randall 1, Willis 5, Austin ritter 4, Mohr 6.
