PORT ANGELES — Going up against mostly 2A schools, the Forks boys came in second at the Battle of the Axe wrestling tournament featuring teams from all around the Olympic Peninsula and western Washington.
2A Bremerton won the meet, beating Forks in the championship bout. It was the first major wrestling tournament most local teams had participated in since wrestling was shut down in the second half of December.
In the girls Battle of the Axe, East Jefferson finished second in team points and Port Angeles third.
In the Battle of the Axe, teams competed in dual meets against other teams, then moved on to championship and consolation brackets.
Forks started off by beating the All-Star JV team 72-12, then crushed River Ridge 57-12 and beat North Mason 60-18. In the championship bracket, the Spartans beat Fife 56-24. Bremerton won the championship bout 60-24.
Port Angeles finished ninth. The Roughriders lost to Olympic 45-33 and lost to Silas (former Wilson High School in Tacoma). In the consolation bracket, the Riders beat East Jefferson 60-18 and beat North Mason 54-24.
East Jefferson lost to Bremerton 81-0, lost to North Kitsap 63-4, then beat Sequim 36-15 to finish 11th.
Sequim lost to Klahowya 41-12, lost to Fife 48-24 and lost to North Mason 41-21.
Individually, several wrestlers from all the schools had good days with four local athletes going undefeated.
Not including forfeits, Port Angeles’ Phoenix Flores went 4-0 at 132 pounds and his teammate Ethan Abrams went 4-0 at 138 pounds. Forks’ Walker Wheeler went 4-0 at 145 pounds.
Spartan Conner Demorest went 3-0 at 120 and 126 pounds and his teammate Sloan Tumaua went 4-1 at 220 and 285 pounds. Forks’ Dalton Kilmer went 4-1 at 132 pounds.
Local wrestlers did well in the 152-pound weight division. Kaleb Blanton of Forks, Zach Gavin of Port Angeles and Aaron Tolberd of Sequim all went 3-1 at this weight.
East Jefferson’s Logan Massie went 3-1 at 170 pounds and Thomas Arand of Port Angeles went 3-1 at 182.
Aiden Ivey of Forks won three matches at 160 and fellow Spartan Conner Earls won three at 190 and 220 pounds.
Winning two matches on the day were Forks’ William Perez (138) Jon Parker Jr. (170) and Hayden Queen (182), Port Angeles’ Jack Harrelson (145), Sequim’s Mirek Skov (160), Ari Skov (170), Brandon Linson (138).
Girls Battle of the Axe
PORT ANGELES — The East Jefferson girls came in second with 42 team points to Silas’ 52. Port Angeles had 36 points, Sequim 26 and Forks 16.
There were three local weight champions. East Jefferson’s Mi Amanda Lauphear-Ramirez won her 115-118 weight class with three wins. Sequim’s Petra Bernsten won the 135-141 division by going 4-0 and Forks’ James Demorest went 3-0 at 142-149 to win that weight division.
Port Angeles’ Zakara Braun had three wins at 108-115 pounds to finish second, while Roughrider Faye Dachs finished second at 116-120 with a 3-1 record. East Jefferson’s Savanna Hoffman went 3-1 at 124-125 pounds to finish second.
Sequim’s Jordan Jegredt went 2-2 at 116-120 to come in third, while Port Angeles’ Willow Harvey was third at 124-125 by going 2-2.
Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News Zach Gavin of Port Angeles, front, takes on Greysen Dagsaar of Olympic in their 152-lb. bout during Saturday’s Battle of the Axe tournament at Port Angeles High School.
Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News Aaron Tolberg of Sequim, top, wrestles with Nicholas Hawkins of Fife in the 152-lb. class on Sataurday at Port Angeles High School.
Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News Ari Skov of Sequim, top, takes on Fife’s Cashious Koerth in the 170-lb. weight class at the Battle of the Axe on Saturday at Port Angeles High School.
