TACOMA — A morning of triumph in the semifinal round turned into an evening of Mat Classic disappointment as all four North Olympic Peninsula state wrestling finalists lost in their championship matches.
The margins of defeat in Saturday night’s finales were measured by close calls in two matches: a controversially officiated 5-4 three overtime defeat for Forks’ Jack Dahlgren against Montesano’s Kylar Prante in the Class 1A 182-pound final, and a near-comeback in the final 10 seconds by Forks’ Alvaro Ortiz in a 1-0 loss to Colville’s Trent Baun in their 113-pound title match.
In the other two matches, the area finalists couldn’t capture the mat magic that had guided them through a lengthy regular and postseason.
Port Townsend’s Chloe Rogers suffered her second consecutive state final loss in the 140-pound girls final, this time to Wilson’s Flor Parker-Borrero at 3:03.
Forks’ heavyweight Tristan Tumaua’s attempt to become the second straight Spartan to win a 285-pound state championship (Miguel Morales won in 2015) fell short when he was pinned at 3:43 against Montesano’s Taylor Rupe.
Forks finished 10th overall as a team, the fourth consecutive top-10 finish for the Spartans after taking ninth in 2013, second in 2014 and fifth last season.
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TACOMA — Four of five North Olympic Peninsula boys and girls wrestling semifinalists moved on to tonight’s finals at Mat Classic XXVIII, the state wrestling tournament, at the Tacoma Dome.
Forks advanced all three of its semifinalists, and Port Townsend’s Chloe Rogers steamed forward to her second consecutive girls 140-pound final.
Spartans senior Alvaro Ortiz will wrestle for the 113-pound title against Colville’s Trent Baun. Ortiz controlled his match with Royal’s Eduardo Rodriguez in a 4-2 victory.
“I lost to that kid in the finals at Dream Duals and I wanted to prove people wrong,” Ortiz said.
“I knew I could get close to that kid and I just pushed it to the end.
“I like to leg ride, a lot of people like to say I leg ride pretty hard, so I rode him pretty hard and killed some time.”
Forks’ Jack Dahlgren overwhelmed Kalama’s Brady Harmon 12-0 to reach the 182-pound final. He will face Evergreen League foe Kylar Prante of Montesano in the championship match.
Dahlgren lost to Prante 4-0 in a league dual earlier this season and picked up injury default wins against him at subregionals and regionals earlier this month.
Forks’ Tristan Tumaua picked up an 8-4 win his 285-pound semifinal against Tenino’s Riley Noonan. Tumaua also will face another Evergreen League foe in Montesano’s Taylor Rupe in the heavyweight championship.
The steller career of Port Angeles’ four-time state placer Tyler Gale came to a tough end with a 3-1 overtime loss in the third-place match to Cedarcrest’s Parker McBride.
Earlier, Gale couldn’t mount an offensive charge in his 4-1 semifinal loss against Wapato’s Alex Vaca. He reached the third-place match after a 5-0 wins against Squalicum’s Jace Cooper in the consolation semifinals.
The Roughriders’ Ben Basden earned redemption from a first-round loss to Foster’s Luis Cuellar with an exhausting 4-3 win in four overtimes.
Basden beat Clarkston’s Jack Freeman 4-2, but then fell 11-2 to Ridgefield’s Trevor Newburn in the consolation semifinals.
Sequim’s Kevyn Ward fell 6-0 in his seventh-place match against Shorecrest’s Owen Donnelly.
Sequim’s Kiara Pierson wrestled to a fourth-place showing in the girls 110-pound bracket, and teammate Alma Mendoza took seventh in the girls 140-pound division.
Port Townsend’s Cody McClain placed seventh after earning a win by pin at 4:19 against Reyes Ramirez of Wahluke.
Forks’ Joel Mohn ended his career with an 11-4 victory in the Class 1A 160-pound bracket.
Freshman Josue Lucas finished eighth for the Spartans.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 57050 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
