By Michael Carman
Peninsula Daily News
TACOMA — Forks’ Josue Lucas defended his 106-pound Class 1A boys wrestling state championship at Mat Classic XXX at the Tacoma Dome on Saturday.
Lucas won in the finals 10-2 in a major decision over Nathanial Mendoza of Zillah.
He opened with a pin at 1:18 of his first-round match with Colville’s Ryan Erickson, outpointed Granger’s Jeremiah Salcedo 8-2 in the quarterfinals and topped John Mitzel of Naches Valley 16-6 in the semifinals Saturday morning.
Lucas is one of two North Olympic Peninsula wrestlers who could come home with a state title.
Sequim’s Kiara Pierson dominated her way to the all-classification 135-pound girls final with three wins by pin. She took down Mount Baker’s Rebekah Rollins 31 seconds into her state opener, advanced to Saturday’s semifinals with a second-round pin (3:10) against Emily Carroll of Wenatchee and made the state final with a pin at 2:10 of her match against Jemma Souza of Rogers (Puyallup).
Pierson, now a four-time state medalist, faced Hudson Bay’s Allison Blaine for the state championship Saturday night.
Pierson’s match came after press time. Photographs from the Tacoma Dome and a more detailed recap will appear in Monday’s sports section.
Boys wrestlers from Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Chimacum and Sequim all failed to advance to the medal rounds.
Seven other Forks grapplers came home with state medals after competition closed late Saturday evening.
The Spartans were fourth with 106 points entering the state championship round, well back of first-place Deer Park (159).
Ariel Morales (126) and Luke Dahlgren (220) each placed fourth. Colton Duncan was fifth at 126, Nate Flores suffered an injury in his semifinal match and was unable to continue, eventually finishing sixth, Colby Demorest (160) and Shane Queen (170) each finished seventh and Eden Cisneros (195) placed eighth.
Morales battled back through the loser’s bracket to earn a fourth-place finish at 126.
Morales won by pin late (5:42) in his first match Friday against Zillah’s Emmanuel Troncoso, dropped to the loser’s bracket in a 4-3 defeat against Medical Lake’s Alex Gonzalez, but advanced to day two with a 6-4 overtime decision versus Edgar Hernandez of Warden.
Morales won a second straight overtime decision, this time an 11-9 win over Colville’s Dylan Sahota, to reach the consolation semifinals.
He then beat teammate Duncan 7-2, but fell 8-7 to Lakeside’s Andrew Smith in the third-place match.
Duncan lost a 12-0 major decision in the semifinals to Zillah’s Joel Coronel, fell to Morales, but beat Gonzalez 4-2 in overtime for fifth place.
Dahlgren picked up two pins Friday, taking down Wyatt Tynan of Zillah 58 seconds into his first match and Alex Medina of Columbia (White Salmon) at 4:54. But Deer Park’s Amir Nurideen turned the tables and pinned Dahlgren, who held a 2-0 lead, at 1:33 in the semifinals.
Dahlgren beat River View’s Devin Roberts 6-4 in the consolation semifinals, but fell to Freeman’s Garrett Trevino 4-1 in the third-place match.
Forks’ fourth semifinalist, Flores, was injured Saturday in a 6-0 semifinal match and was forced to forfeit that contest and his final two matches to finish sixth.
Port Angeles
Daniel Basden (120) and Kenny Soule (152) of Port Angeles were each eliminated Friday after posting 0-2 marks. Basden lost 12-1 in his opening round match to Kevin Plenh-Romero of Highline and was edged 8-7 in a loser-out match by Centralia’s Davyi Gaspar.
Soule opened with a 15-0 technical fall loss and was ousted by pin at 4:20 of his match with Orting’s Phoenix Farrar.
Sequim
Sequim’s Ben Newell (145) won by injury default in his opening match Friday, but lost by pin to Clarkston’s Jake Freeman and by an 8-3 decision against East Valley Spokane’s Isaiah Ervin.
Jamie Schroepfer lost twice Friday at 132 pounds.
Port Townsend/Chimacum
Chimacum brothers Ryan and Kyle Caldwell were unable to reach the tournament’s second day.
Ryan Caldwell went 1-2 at 182 pounds, while Kyle lost twice at 195.
Gabe Petrick (160) and Dylan Tracer (170) each went 0-2 for Port Townsend.
The Redhawks’ lone girls representative, Brenna Franklin (155) went 1-2 and missed out on a state medal.
Forks girls
The Spartans’ Marissa Bailey lost two matches Friday.
Lonnie Archibald/for the Peninsula Daily News Forks Nate Flores wrestles Arthur Drake of Cascade (Leavenworth) in a 285-pound match at Mat Classic, the state wrestling tournament, Flores reached the semifinals but suffered an injury and was forced to forfeit his final three matches and placed sixth.
