Senior Kai Olson led the Montesano High School Bulldogs wrestling team this past weekend to an eighth place finish at Mat Classic XXXI at the Tacoma Dome.
The Bulldogs’ 103 points were just 3.5 points behind seventh-place Royal City and two places higher than their 2018 finish. The Class 1A state championship went to Colville. Granger finished second, and Evergreen Conference foe Forks finished third.
Olson lost just one match, dropping a close decision to Lakeside Nine Mile Falls veteran Akio Yamada, who was second at 195 pounds in 2018. In a hard fought, back-and-forth quarterfinal match, Olson trailed by one point when his last second takedown attempt was countered by a retreating Yamata. Olson lost in a 9-6 decision.
Olson snapped back with a vengeance, pinning Stevenson’s Brandon Connell at 4 minutes, 32 seconds, then pinning Chimacum’s Kyle Caldwell in 2:47. In the third-place match, Castle Rock’s Peyton Watts was able to hold Olson at bay for much of the match. But Olson’s conditioning and desire eventually won the day, and he grabbed a 4-2 victory and the third place medal.
Olson finished with a 6-1 record at state and scored 25 points for the Bulldogs.
“We wish Kai had had the opportunity to wrestle one of the finalists at 195 (pounds), but it just didn’t work out that way,” assistant coach Jeff Catterlin said.
Yamata ended up placing 6th.
Head coach Jeff Klinger had high praise for his entire team but pointed to the accomplishments of the Bulldog’s four state medalists, including Olson.
Senior Andy Fry finished his high school wrestling career as a three-time state medalist finishing seventh at 106 pounds. Junior Aaron Lano finished at eighth at 120 pounds for his second state medal. And freshman Kenny Koonrad took seventh at 285 pounds in his first trip to Mat Classic.
“Freshmen just don’t place at state in the heavyweight division,” Klinger said of Koonrad. Klinger also wrestled heavyweight when he attended MHS. “But Kenny simply would not be denied the state medal he wanted.”
Koonrad was 4-2 at state with four pins which added 15 team points to the Bulldog’s score.
“With 3 years remaining in his high school wrestling career, we are excited to see what Kenny will accomplish.” Klinger said.
Assistant coach Darrel White called Aaron Lano a “real warrior” in earning his 8th place finish.
“Aaron was unfortunate enough to be the only wrestler at 120 pounds who wrestled the returning state champion, Jeff Friedman of Lakeside, twice in the state tournament,” White said. “Things just sort of work out that way sometimes and after Friedman was upset in his semifinal we ran into him again.”
While Lano dropped both matches to Friedman he scored four decisions and lost a tight, hard-fought final match by decision to Jake Weakley of Forks.
“It would have been easy for Aaron to have simply given up but, instead, he battled in each and every match. That is the kind of toughness we are hoping every kid on our team will develop.” White said.
Freshman Jacob Salstrom’s upset of 2018 eighth-place winner Marvin Calmo, of Nooksack Valley, likely was the biggest surprise of the tournament for the Bulldogs.
Salstrom, who finished 2-2 and made it to the second day of Mat Classic, dumped the tiring senior into the loser’s bracket with a come from behind 13-11 victory. Deadlocked at 11-11 with 5 seconds remaining, Salstrom shot a takedown and scored at the buzzer.
Sophomore Ty Ekerson struggled more this year than last after a growth spurt. He moved up four weight classes to 132 pounds this year. In 2018, he finished fifth at 113 pounds.
It appears that the jump was a little too much for Ekerson, who finished with a 3-2 record at the mat classic, one win short of assuring himself another state medal.
With everyone except Olson and Fry returning, it looks as if the 2019-20 season can be a banner year for the Bulldogs, coaches said.
Other wrestlers
A total of 17 Twin Harbors wrestlers took the medal stand as the conclusion of the Mat Classic XXXI.
The closest competitor to come to a state title was Aberdeen’s Tatum Heikkila, who advanced to the championship match of the Girls 190-pound final, but lost the final when the sophomore was pinned by Kent-Meridian’s Ofa He Lotu Tuifua at 2:37.
Heikkila’s teammates — Savannah Chandler and Ciera Skelly — also medalled (top eight) to help the Bobcats girls to a seventh place team finish, tops for any Twin Harbors area team.
Five area athletes placed fifth in their respective classes, including two Raymond grapplers.
The Seagulls’ Jack Jordan (Class 2B/1B, 170 pounds) and Tristan Hamlin (2B/1B, 138) placed fifth to assist the Seagulls to 53 teampoints, good for 17th place in the state in the 2B/1B division.
Other area wrestlers to earn fifth place in state were Aberdeen’s Jeremy Roberts (2A, 113), North Beach’s Garrett Armbruster (2B/1B, 126) and South Bend’s Chase Flynn (2B/1B, 195).
Results for all Twin Harbors athletes that medalled in the state tournament are listed below.
For full results, go to http://www.wiaa.com/subcontent.aspx?SecID=1169.
Aberdeen’s Tatum Heikkila, background, stares down Kent Meridian’s Ofa He Lotu Tuifua during the Girls 190-pound state championship match at the Tacoma Dome on Saturday. Heikkila lost the match via pinfall at 2:37. (Photo by Sue Michalak)
Ocosta’s Tucker Deranleau, top, controls an opponent during the WIAA Mat Classic XXXI state championship tournament on Saturday in Tacoma. (Photo by Sue Michalak)
