With ninth and 10th place finishes, Sequim’s wrestlers took their best placement ever at the Hammerhead Invitational Wrestling Tournament on Dec. 18-19 in the Kitsap Sun Pavilion.

Three girls medaled for the Wolves with Kiara Pierson (115) taking second, Aylee Bennett (135) tying for fifth and Alma Mendoza (140) winning second. Added with Andrea Kienholtz’s win, the girls finished 10th with 61 points.

At 220 pounds, Michael Latimer was the boys lone medalist placing fourth with multiple pins. He and several Sequim boys finished with at least one win to help the Wolves move up the rankings and take ninth and 119.5 points.

Girls send three to medal stand

To earn second place, Pierson started with three straight opponent pins in 1:05, 1:42 and 2:49 before falling to Teracita Shanes of Sedro-Woolley in 5:40 in the finals.

Mendoza opened her first match with a pin in 4:37 followed by a 4-2 sudden victory before losing 11-4 to Chloe Rogers of Port Townsend.

Bennett (135) tied for fifth with Quinn Dasher of Decatur after opening with two pins in 4:52 and 2:58 before falling to first-place finisher Erin Redford of White River. In the consolation she she lost 9-4 to Olivia Miles of Mount Tahoma before the draw with Dasher.

Kienholtz also won one match with a pin in 1:50.

Boys see 13 different winners

For the boys, 13 Wolves had at least one win with Latimer taking the most opponents down.

He opened with two pins in 2:18 and 4:33 before losing 13-3 to champion  Andrzej Hughes-Murray of Federal Way. In the consolation Latimer scored three straight pins in 2 minutes, 1:45, and 4:17 before Geordyn Shinard of Olympic pinned him in 3:46 for the third/fourth place match.

At 145 pounds, Grant Pierson had four wins after losing 16-7 in his first match-up. He came back in the consolation with three pins in 2:16, 4:05 and 4:22 and another win before losing 6-1 to John Bittinger of Gig Harbor.

Hayden Gresli, also at 145 pounds, scored three wins with a pin in 3:57, before losing but in the consolation he won 13-5 and 12-10 before losing 19-2 to Corey Carter of South Kitsap.

Craig Baker (138), Kevyn Ward (160) and Adrian Klarich (182) also won three apiece.

In the consolation, Baker pinned three straight opponents in 1:24, 1:29 and 3:57 before losing to Nick Voss of Puyallup.

Ward opened with a pin in 2:55 and a tech fall in 22-7 before losing 12-9 to Ahmad Jumper of Steilacoom. In the consolation he earned another pin in 4:36 but lost to third place finisher Seth Earl of Central Kitsap by pin in 2:07.

Klarich pinned his first opponent in 54 second before losing by tech fall 21-6. In the consolation he won by injury default, and pin in 2:51 before losing a tiebreaker 2-2 to fourth place finisher Quintin Stansbury of West Valley.

Four other Wolves won two apiece: Chris Puksta (138), Austin Budd (160), Hunter Davidson (195) and McKenzie Stockdale (285).

Puksta won his two matches 10-5 and 7-6, Budd won with two pins in 2:33 and 3:37, Davidson won with two pins in 1:10 and 4:05, and Stockdale with two pins in 2:20 each.

Dalton Brown (106), Jamie Schroepfer (120) and Dylan Perreria (170) also won one match each.

Following this tourney, Sequim’s JV team competed on Dec. 29 at the Hawkins memorial JV tournament and the varsity team travels to the North Mason Classic on Dec. 30, and the Battle for the Axe at Port Angeles High on Jan. 2.

Wolves’ boys fall in pair of non-conference games

A long road trip, a familiar face and a bit of a reality check.

Sequim’s boys got all they could handle in a pair of non-league match-ups heading into winter break, falling 67-47 on Dec. 19 against Anacortes and 62-18 two days later at Lynden.

Trystan Lowry had 19 points and Connor Rodriguez and Camden McLaughlin each added 10 in Anacortes’ win.

Against Lynden’s undefeated Lions on Dec. 21, the home squad jumped out to a 22-0 lead after one quarter and 33-7 halftime advantage.

Payton Glasser scored seven points while Nick Faunce and Jackson Oliver added three each for the Wolves (0-3 in league play, 3-6 overall), who shot just seven-of-41 (17 percent) from the field.

Lynden, led by former Wolves coach Brian Roper, got 12 points from Christian Zamora and 10 from Jordan Wittenberg.

Roper, who coached at Sequim from 1999-2005 before taking the job at perennial powerhouse Lynden, has led the Lions to seven top-six finishes at the state tournament, including titles in 2006-2007 and 2011-2012.

Girls’ losing streak runs to three before break

The Lady Wolves (0-3 in league, 2-5 overall) went into Christmas break with a tough three-game losing streak after powering past Port Townsend 56-31 on Dec. 14.

Sequim, with three more games that week, lost 53-40 in Kingston (1-1, 2-3) on Dec. 16, 42-34 at home to Olympic (2-1, 4-1) on Dec. 18, and traveled to Anacortes (5-3) to face a 64-17 defeat to the Seahawks.

Adrienne Haggerty scored 17 points but Sequim couldn’t keep pace at Kingston. Jordan Miller added 15 points and Ella Christiansen added five in defeat. Kingston, who led 16-11 after one quarter, 31-22 at halftime and 44-28 after three quarters, was led by the 25 points of center Lily Eckert.

Haggerty led the Wolves in scoring again against the Trojans with 12 points followed by Miller with 11 and Ella Christiansen with 10. They trailed 12-9 at the end of the first quarter but came back to lead 22-16 at halftime. But the Trojans stymied the Wolves in the second half outscoring them 26-12.

Details from the Anacortes game were not available.

The Wolves return to action on Jan. 5 traveling to North Mason, hosting Coupeville on Jan. 6.