Stepping on the mat in Port Townsend High School’s gymnasium last Wednesday, the best middle school wrestlers on the Olympic Peninsula put their skills to the test, with five grapplers in east …
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Stepping on the mat in Port Townsend High School’s gymnasium last Wednesday, the best middle school wrestlers on the Olympic Peninsula put their skills to the test, with five grapplers in east Jefferson County earning an Olympic League title.
A total of 20 east Jefferson County wrestlers participated in the league championship March 29 for the final event of the season. Students from Forks, Port Angeles, and Sequim also participated in the end-of-year championship tournaments.
Five local champs emerged; seventh-grader Savannah Grimm, eighth-grader Gracee Liske, eighth-grader Kaleb Kruse, eighth-grader Seth Nielsen, and eighth-grader Silas Klontz.
Other top placing east Jefferson County grapplers included Aiden Glenn (second place), Damien Ilarraza (fourth place), Daltry Lammers (second place), Brayden Lane (fourth place), Dane Moore (fourth place), Silas Morford (second place), and Oliver Ingersoll (second place).
While the Forks team won the girls event and the Port Angeles team won the boys event, the Blue Heron (east Jefferson County) boys earned third place as a team with 151 points, demonstrating the local grapplers were very competitive with the other Peninsula schools throughout the season.
“We were right there all year long and the difference between the top three boys teams came down to just a couple bouts of the 100 matches wrestled on Wednesday night,” said Coach Ryan White. “Congratulations to Port Angeles for having a great performance that night. Our Port Townsend and Chimacum kids know that they are right there with the best on the Peninsula.”
After a competitive Wednesday night, the east Jefferson County middle school grapplers and coaching staff came together for a party to close out the 2023 wrestling season. On Thursday, March 30, a handful of end-of-year awards were handed out to some of the team standouts.
The Team MVP award was earned by eighth-grader Kaleb Kruse, eighth-grader Silas Klontz was handed the Coaches Award, and both eighth-graders Seth Nielsen and Gracee Liske were presented with Most Inspirational accolades.
Along with the awards, the coaches announced multiple new school records set after a stellar season on the mat.
Damien Ilarraza set a new school record with 15 escapes in one year, Klontz set a new standard with 13 pins in one season, and Kruse, Liske, and Klontz each tied for the best season record with 13-0 records to remain undefeated throughout the year.
With the 2023 middle school wrestling season wrapped up, many young grapplers will return in search of a league title of their own at the middle school level, while the eighth-graders will have the opportunity to take the next step in competition and join the East Jefferson Rivals boys and girls wrestling teams in the winter.
