The Wolves keep climbing the ranks in major tournaments.

In their latest effort, Sequim took ninth at Blaine’s Battle at the Border on Dec. 11-12 with 115.5 points.

It’s the highest the Wolves have placed at the tourney since they started attending it in the 2008-2009 season, Sequim coach Charles Drabek said.

“I felt like the kids hard work in the practice room is starting to pay off as I saw moves we’ve been drilling showing up in there matches,” Drabek said.

Four Wolves placed — Michael Latimer third in 220 pounds, Grant Pierson fifth in 145 pounds, Kevyn Ward fifth in 160 pounds and Adrian Klarich fifth in 182 pounds — with the Wolves going 37-27 overall including 20 pins.

Latimer (220), the Wolves’ highest finisher at the tourney and ranked No. 9 in the 2A classification by washingtonwrestlingreport.com, opened his first match with a pin followed by another before being pinned by second-place finisher Brin Hanson of Tumwater.

However, in the consolation, Latimer went back to his pinning ways with two straight pins including a third-place medal match over Zach Zimmerman of Sehome.

Pierson (145) lost his opener by pin to James Heppe of Elma but came back in the consolation with four straight wins with a pin, 5-1 win, 8-2 win, another pin and a 5-3 win before losing 8-1 to Jeremiah Leonard of Elma for fourth and fifth place.

Sequim’s Hayden Gresli also competed in the bracket going 2-2 with two pins.

Ward (160) — who is ranked No. 6 in the 2A classification by washingtonwrestlingreport.com — took the No. 4 seed in his bracket and powered to a strong opening with two pins followed by an 8-6 win over Cory Marsh of Elma, the No. 5 seed. He lost to the No. 1 seed Riley Fritsch of Blaine by pin, who went on to take the bracket, and he lost in the consolation by Adrian Avena of Todd Beamer, the No. 3 seed.

However, Ward took fifth with a pin over Brandon Speed of Kalama, the No. 2 seed.

Klarich won his first two 182-pound bracket matches 11-2, 12-8 before being pinned by Jacob Burgoon of Squalicum. In the consolation, he won two more matches, 5-2 and 2-0, before being pinned by Brady Harmon of Kalama, the third-place finisher.

But Klarich came back to take fifth with a 10-5 win over Chance Gunter of Issaquah

A few more Wolves took home some wins with them on the weekend.

At 132 pounds, Ben Newell won his first two matches with a pin fall followed by a 5-4 win over Amit Jourhal of Kentwood. Next, he lost 14-0 to first-place finisher Derreck Camba of Blaine. In the consolation Newell defeated Wyatt Weidmer of East Valley 14-6 before losing 5-0 to Caleb Bullard of Blaine.

Craig Baker (138 pounds) pinned his opening opponent but lost 13-5 in his next match-up. But he followed the loss with a 17-0 major decision and an 11-3 win and a pin before losing a close 4-3 match to sixth place finisher Aidan Button of Blaine.

McKenzie Stockdale (285 pounds) lost by pin in his opener to first place finisher Draven Hodgins of Mount Vernon but got two pin falls in a row before losing by tech fall to Theron Arnold of Tumwater.

Jamie Schroepfer (120 pounds) also won a match after losing his first match-up by pin to sixth place finisher Mario Yanez of Elma.

He later pinned Nathan Rumsey of Black Hills in the consolation but was later pinned by third place finisher Stephen Erosa of Everett.

In other action …

Several Sequim wrestlers were busy last week as well, as girls and junior varsity grapplers competed for top spots at Foss High School’s Judi Emery Invitational on Dec. 12.

On the girls’ side, Kiara Pierson (120 pounds) and Alma Mendoza (140) took first place in their respective divisions while Aylee Bennett (140) and Abby Hansted (155) won two of three matches.

On the JV boys’ side, Sequim’s Dalton Brown (103 pounds), Levi Foy (113) and Austin Budd (160) won their divisions while Caden Robert (120) won two of three matches.

“The veteran girls are really wrestling well and continuing the mental and physical toughness that they had shown last year,” Drabek said. “(We) look for them to do well in their upcoming tournament against some good competition.”

Coming up

This week, the Wolves traveled to North Kitsap High School for a double dual meet against Olympic and North Kitsap on Dec. 14.

The Sequim varsity boys compete this weekend at the Hammerhead Invite on Dec. 18-19 at the Kitsap Pavilion, with 40 teams competing. At the same time, Sequim’s girls compete at a meet in Burien while Sequim’s junior varsity grapplers are in a tournament at Highline.