The East Jefferson Rivals team finished second out of the eight teams in the second annual East Jefferson Team Dual Tourney, winning four dual matches before losing a hard-fought battle against the No. 3 ranked team in the state in the championship match. 

East Jefferson won their first match against Forks 48-36, then rolled through Kingston 66-12.  In the third match, East Jefferson defeated the All-Star team, which was made up of #2 wrestlers from various teams, after South Whidbey had to cancel due to our WA State PT/Coupeville ferry not running that morning due to weather. EJ defeated the All Star team 72-6. 

After winning all three matches in the round-robin, EJ advanced to the championship bracket. The most exciting dual match of the day came when EJ defeated 4A Catholic Kennedy 41-40 in a match that came down to EJ lightweights losing a couple of matches by technical fall vice pins. 

“Liam Meyer and Chase Gardner both showed great mental fortitude during this dual meet, refusing to submit against a couple of highly skilled opponents,” said Coach Steve Grimm. “That was the difference in the team score, we won the dual because all our kids wrestled tough, but especially Chase and Liam.” 

The championship match featured the Elma team, which had three wrestlers on their roster that placed in last year’s state tournament. 

Elma won the final dual match 45-36 to earn the team title. The top four schools were: Elma, East Jefferson, Kennedy Catholic, Forks.

Two of the boys in the varsity line-up went a perfect 5-0 for the day: Manaseh Lanphear Ramirez at 150 pounds and Silas Klontz at 190 pounds.

Ryan White is a wrestling coach at Port Townsend High School.