The Montesano wrestling team is hard at work and pointing themselves squarely at their most important target, the Washington State Wrestling Championships, Mat Classic XXXI, as the post season draws nearer.

With the state event one month away, the Bulldogs also are making a run at their Evergreen Conference foes. Last week, they crushed Hoquiam 60-8 and Tenino 71-12.

Tenino’s only points came on two Monte forfeits, and Hoquiam won just two matches by decision.

Monte head coach Jeff Klinger inserted several ninth-graders and first year wrestlers into the Bulldog line up for the Hoquiam and Tenino matches, and he was particularly pleased with their performance. Jacob Salstrom, Isaac Pierce and Isaiah Pierce — along with Stephen Rademacher and Cannon Foster, who accepted forfeits for Monte — all scored points for the Bulldogs.

Klinger singled out Isaiah Pierce, in particular, for special praise. Despite being shifted to a higher weight class, Pierce pinned Tenino co-captain Zachary Robson at 170 pounds scoring an upset victory.

Klinger also pointed to the victories of senior Mason Lutz at 160 pounds, sophomore Cooper Johansson at 120 pounds, sophomore Lucas Salstrom at 132 and senior Kai Olson at 182 pounds as particularly significant in the Hoquiam match.

Lutz and Salstrom each pinned Hoquiam wrestlers who had placed higher than their Bulldog opponents had in the previous week’s Grizzly Alumni Invitational. Each also trailed at one point prior to their upset pins of Grizzlies Cosmo Palmgren and Levi Suddereth. Lutz’s explosive lateral drop that tossed Suddereth to his back was a real crowd pleaser.

Johansson and Olson dispatched Grizzly Invitational champs in the first period of their matches.

On Saturday, Monte’s team split with 11 Bulldogs traveling to the tough, fifteen team Rubber Chicken Invitational in Kalama and to a smaller varsity level tournament in Pacific County.

The Pacific County event, involving primarily Bulldog JV and freshman wrestlers, featured varsity teams from many of the area’s smaller schools. Montesano’s only champion was 106-pounder Jacob Salstrom, but four other Montesano wrestlers placed. Sophomore Malaki Osbekoff was second at 145 pounds and freshman Isaiah Pierce took second at 160 pounds, losing in the final to Adna’s Lucas Ashley, who was fourth in the state tournament in 2018. Isaac Pierce was third at 152 pounds, and freshman Nathan Ryker was fourth at 182 pounds.

At the Rubber Chicken Invitational, four Bulldogs wrestled their way into the finals. Seniors Andy Fry at 106 pounds and Kai Olson at 182 pounds both pinned their way to and through the championships.

“Andy and Olson really wrestled well, but our entire team looked great,” assistant coach Jeff Catterlin said.

Klinger expressed confidence that the Bulldog’s performance in Kalama indicates that his team is heading toward a peak.

“Our kids are really shaping up, and the intensity in our practice room is translating to success on the mat,” Klinger said. ”We are winning many matches simply because we are tiring more slowly than many of our opponents.”

“Olson, in particular, is in incredible physical condition, and his leadership in our practice room is catching on with the team,” he added. “We feel that we are on the way to establishing a new culture in our program that will help us peak at the end of the season and rise to new heights in the years ahead.”

In addition to Fry and Olson, placers at Kalama included 132 pound Ty Ekerson and 160 pound Brent Hollatz who each placed second. Johansson at 113 pounds, 120-pounder Aaron Lano and 145-pounder Jordan King all placed third. Brandon Kroeger finished in seventh, and Rademacher finished in fifth.

Klinger indicated that his team’s effort was especially impressive because every Monte entrant contributed to the Bulldogs final total of 163 points.

Heading into the finals Monte, was in third place, trailing Woodland by 11.5 points. And while the Bulldogs had four wrestlers in the finals, Woodland had six.

Fry dispatched Woodland’s Gaige Pilot by pinning him in 1 minute, 35 seconds of the first round. Fry’s pin scored 6 points for the Bulldogs and when his performance was matched by Kai Olson, Monte jumped another 6 points. Olson, who surged from behind in a close match with West Valley California’s Cade Lambert, pinned the California wrestler at 3:47 in the second round.

With the Bulldogs done for the evening holding a narrow lead on Woodland, the Grizzlies had one last shot with 285 pound finalist Andrew Poltratz facing Elma’s Alejandro (AJ) Hernandez in the heavyweight final.

Suddenly, the Monte team found themselves rooting mightily for their East County rivals. In a wild and closely contested bout, Hernandez prevailed 5-2 over Poltratz and assured the Bulldogs of a second place finish.

“We made sure that we let the Eagles’ coaching staff and Hernandez know how much we appreciated them,” assistant coach Darrel White said. “I told AJ it was a real neighborly thing for him to have done. We all got a chuckle out of it but it was actually pretty nice to share a moment of success together.”

Assistant coach Catterlin, in reviewing the Bulldogs performance, pointed to the ever-improving physical conditioning that the team is displaying.

“We came from behind to win a lot of matches because we out-conditioned our opponents,” Catterlin said. “That also allowed us to score a huge number of pins, our kids are wrestling very aggressively, and we are very proud of them.”

Of the 23 matches that the Bulldogs won at Kalama, 21 were by pinning their opponents, and in tournament competition that total adds up to an additional 46 points!

“Jordan (King) really stepped up this weekend,” Klinger said. “He has been progressively improving and scored 4 pins at Kalama. More importantly, after losing a tough quarterfinal match, he had to decide whether he would submit to a nagging injury or continue to compete for his team. He chose to continue and scored two consecutive pins to take third. We are very proud of him.”

Klinger also praised Fry for his Kalama performance.

“Andy has finally settled in at his weight and is looking great,” Klinger said. “He is a skilled technician and, after placing fourth at state last season, he is determined to win a state title. He is working very hard and we believe that he can do it.”

As a result of their performances Klinger named Fry and King co-Bulldog Wrestlers of the Week.

The Bulldogs will host a league leading Forks, which is rated second in the state, today (Jan. 24), when they also host the Elma Eagles.

The Forks dual is slated to begin at 5 p.m. with the Elma-Monte contest at 6:30. It will be Fan Appreciation night, and no admission will be charged. The Bulldogs are hoping to fill the stands, and they have some special surprises in store for those who attend.

Monte will travel with a combined varsity and junior varsity team to Klahowya High School outside of Silverdale for their final regular season tournament Saturday.