Area Sports

Sequim Gazette staff

The Wolves’ return to the state wrestling meet produced three wins, 10 losses and plenty of lumps.

 

A trio of Sequim’s wrestlers came within a win of advancing to the second day of MatClassic, Washington state’s prep wrestling finale, but were denied top-eight finishes at the Tacoma Dome Feb. 18.

 

Sequim junior Dakota Hinton earned an upset of top regional seed William Davis, pinning the Woodland senior with just one second left in the match.

 

Hinton looked well on his way to the semifinals but fell 3-2 in three overtimes to Burlington-Edison’s Jack Nevitt in a quarterfinal match.

 

A loss to Anacortes’ Andrew Bolton ended Hinton’s day.

 

Senior Emilio Pertete-Colin rebounded from an opening round loss to pin Zac Corean of Cheney in 2:29, but a loss to Stephen Villarreal of Othello ended Perete-Colin’s prep career.

 

In the girls’ heavyweight division, Sequim sophomore Amaraiah Clift won her opening match by pin, downing Julie Rivera of Kennewick in 75 seconds. But Stanwood’s Laura Charboneau, who would go on to take second overall, pinned Clift in the quarter finals and Celene Rodriguez of Highline ended Clift’s MatClassic later that night.

 

Sequim’s 130-pounder Austin Middleton, a junior, was 0-2 at MatClassic, dropping a 20-5 technical fall decision to Jesse Gonzalez of Centralia and getting pinned by Carlos Toledano of Cedarcrest in the consolation bracket.

 

Sequim sophomore Derek Fruin was pinned in the opening round of the 135-pound weight class by Manny Ybarra of Quincy; Ybarra went on to place second overall. Fruin then dropped a 14-8 decision to Ryuji Kawashima of Interlake.

 

All but Perete-Colin are eligible to return to next year’s Wolves squad.

 

Sequim didn’t have a grappler qualify for last season’s state tourney, the first time in at least 15 seasons.