Sequim Gazette staff
As the wrestling regular season nears the end,
Sequim’s younger wrestlers are getting plenty of opportunities on the mat.
Freshman Sven Wiker took Sequim’s lone varsity win against North Kitsap last week.
Wiker (138) pinned Kye Ryan in 1:47 for the Wolves in the 41-30 loss to the Vikings on Jan. 22 in the last home meet of the year for the Wolves.
Fellow freshman Grant Pierson (126) nearly pulled off a win over John Sedy in a 6-4 loss. Senior Royhon Agostine (132) fought hard against Niktitta Weston in an 11-7 loss.
Sequim’s other points came from forfeits. Prior to the varsity matches, seniors Adam Schaefer, Agostine and Nick Kovach were honored.
On the season, Sequim hasn’t won a head-to-head match this season.
The Wolves travel Thursday, Jan. 30, to North Mason for the last regular meet of the season. Sequim lost 54-24 to the Bulldogs at Port Angeles’ Battle for the Axe tournament earlier in the season.
Sequim coach Charles Drabek said he feels his team has a good chance to improve on the early head-to-head.
“We have more kids with experience now,” he said. “There are a few kids we can compete with.”
Following the meet, Sequim sends as many as two wrestlers per weight class to Port Angeles on Feb. 7-8 for sub-regionals. The top four of each weight class at the tournament move onto regionals in Hockinson.
Sequim’s girls wrestling squad competes at their sub-regionals the same weekend at Auburn Mountain View High School.
New tournament
Sequim hosted the All-Comers JV Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 25, to much success, coaches said.
The Wolves brought in wrestlers from Bremerton, Juanita, North Kitsap JV, North Mason JV, Olympic JV and Port Angeles JV squads with 25 pools of round robin.
“Hopefully we can build on that,” Drabek said. “Many of the kids got three matches which is what we’re trying to do.”
The All-Comers replaces the Rainshadow Tournament, going from a bracket tournament to a round robin to bring in more junior varsity and girl wrestlers, Drabek said.
“We group wrestlers by weight and with similar experience, like if they are first time wrestlers,” Drabek said.
“We saw some state wrestlers there. It’s a more of a JV type style but we still had a good tournament.”
The Wolves had three boys received medals — Ty Jones, Nathan Allison and Michael Latimer.
Sophia Cornell (106) and Alma Mendoza (118) both won first place in their weight class in the girls tournament. Cornell went 2-0 and Mendoza 3-0 all in pins. Kaylee Ditlefsen wrestled at 126 pounds in the boys tournament and took third place going 1-2.
The girls travel Saturday to Mill Creek for another tournament.
