With the end of the league campaign and the postseason right around the proverbial corner, Sequim wrestlers — those who are still healthy — got a tournament tune-up at the End of Days tourney at Lakes High School on Jan. 20.
With just seven participants thanks to a number of injuries, Sequim earned three top four individual placings.
“Even though we were missing so many varsity wrestlers, those that did wrestle did a great job,” Sequim coach Steve Chinn said. “We started with some disappointment because the tournament didn’t allow us to enter two of our kids because of a clerical error.”
SHS’s Johnny Vilona went 5-1 in his weight class to take third place. He won a pair of matches by pin and capped his tourney with a 7-6 win over Chase McBeain of Graham-Kapowsin, coming back from a 6-5 deficit to earn a reversal with just 39 seconds remaining.
Teammate/brother Jayms Vilona also took third after going 3-1 at 144 pounds.
The highlight of Sequim’s tourney may have been James Smith, who Chinn said “wrestled perhaps the best of his career” after beating his first two opponents and earning a spot in the semifinals at 157 pounds. Winning three of his five matches, two by pin, he finished fourth overall.
Dylan Bowen also picked up a pair of wins, going 2-2 at 190 pounds, both wins coming by pin.
Wolves 9th at Islander
The Wolves wrestlers traveled to the Islander Classic at Bainbridge on Jan. 13, with Sequim taking ninth place in the 12-team tourney. North Kitsap won the tournament title.
Cayden Beauregard, wrestling up one weight class at 120 pounds,won his division with a 3-0 record. After pins in the quarterfinals and semis, he out-dueled Noeleco Serra-Sampson of Spanaway Lake 6-1 in the championship, and holds a 25-4 record for the season.
Ari Skov took third place in a tough 175-pound weight class, going 2-1 on the day.
Also winning two matches on the day were James Mason (150 pounds), Smith (157) and Bowen (190).
Looking ahead
The Wolves were scheduled to get a make-up match with East Jefferson — and host their Senior Night — on Jan. 23 at the Rick Kaps gymnasium; results were not available at press time.
Sequim gets two more postseason tune-ups — at North Mason on Jan. 24, against Olympic and the host Bulldogs, and a Jan. 26 match-up with powerhouse North Kitsap — before kicking off the postseason.
The matches are key, as Sequim is 3-0 in league matches and 8-5 overall, with a shot at the league crown.
The Wolves then host the sub-regional tournament starting at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3, with top grapplers advancing to the West Central District tournament scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 10, at White River High School in Buckley.
The top four wrestlers from regionals advance to the 2024 MatClassic Tournament, scheduled for Feb. 16-17 at the Tacoma Dome.
