Sequim’s Cayden Beauregard had already assured himself a spot on the medal stand before his final match. But a lingering rotator cuff injury had the junior thinking about calling it a tournament, SHS coach Steve Chinn said.

“I just felt that he could wrestle,” Chinn said. “He said OK, [I’ll wrestle] which is great.”

Beauregard went on to pin Roberto Rivera-Jesus of Black Hills in 81 seconds, to earn a seventh place finish at MatClassic, the state prep wrestling finals, in Tacoma on Feb. 18.

The victory capped a tumultuous season for the Wolves, whose coach Chad Cate died unexpectedly in January.

“[It’s] been a tragic season — really, really tough- [but] the real heart and soul of these kids came out,” said Chinn, one of Cate’s assistants who came out of retirement to lead the Wolves in the final weeks of the 2022-23 season.

“I am just proud,” he said. “They’ve got this bond that will last them a lifetime.”

Capping their individual seasons at MatClassic were Beauregard, at 106 pounds, and Ari Skov, a 170-pound state tourney alternate who saw action after a wrestler in his weight class was unable to participate.

After making an appearance as a sophomore last season, Beauregard went 3-2 this year in his weight division, earning three pins along the way.

Ranked No. 6 at 106 pounds by washingtonwrestlingreport.com, Beauregard opened with a pin of Rogers junior Nam Pham in 5:46, dominating the match from the beginning.

In the quarterfinals, however, his lingering shoulder injury hampered Beauregard and he fell behind 8-0 before getting pinned by No. 3-ranked Ben Sommers of Burlington-Edison.

“From there, it was just a roller coaster,” Chinn said.

In the consolation bracket, Beauregard rebounded with a 59-second pin of Hockinson freshman Liam McKee.

In the consolation semifinals, Beauregard was pinned by Talatheon Warness, a junior from Aberdeen and top-ranked 106-pounder according to washingtonwrestlingreport.com, in 3:00.

That left one match, for seventh or eighth place. Chinn encouraged the Sequim grappler to finish the meet on the mat.

“He had a great tournament; good, gutsy wrestling,” Chinn said of Beauregard.

“It was good for him psychologically — he realized he belonged there.

“[The] whole tournament was just really good for him.”

Beauregard, who finished the season with a 28-10 record, came out of quite a tough district bracket: Dominic Thomas of Orting placed first and Washington’s Daniel Herrera Sanchez took second.

All three could be back on the mat in the postseason next year, as Beauregard and Herrera Sanchez are juniors and Thomas is just a freshman.

Skov, the state alternate at 170 pounds, saw action in two matches. Sehome senior Zachary McGiverin pinned the Sequim wrestler in 4:46.

Skov held a lead early on, however, earning a takedown just eight seconds into the match against the top-seeded McGiverin.

“He was in [that first match] the whole way,” Chinn said.

Isaac Gil of Washougal ended Skov’s tourney in the consolation bracket with a pin in 2:37.

“Ari wrestled really well,” Chinn said. “His style is so risky; it’s like, pin or be pinned with him.”

Sequim finished tied for 34th out of 56 teams in the 2A division, scoring 10 team points. Orting handily won the 2A division with 258.5 points, with WF West (132 points) in second and Othello (126) in third. North Kitsap was second and Port Angeles tied for 42nd.

Chinn said he’s already working on offseason scheduling for workouts and camps to help build the SHS wrestling program.