Montesano and Elma won in Rainier while Aberdeen placed second at the Ron Baze Invitational in Hoquiam as we review Twin Harbors prep wrestling results from the weekend.
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BOYS PREP WRESTLING
Four East County grapples win at Norton Memorial
Four East County wrestlers – two from Elma and two from Montesano – won their respective weight classes at the Sgt. Justin Norton Memorial wrestling tournament on Saturday at Rainier High School.
Gage Stutesman and Logan Roberts led Montesano to a second-place finish with 183 points in the overall team standings.
Stutesman defeated Rainier’s Zander Peck via 9-2 decision to place first at 165 pounds with Roberts pinning Zillah’s Jake Turner at 2:05 to claim the 285-pound title.
Bulldogs 106-pounder Finley Ekerson, Kole Kjesbu (144), Gabe Pyhala (175) and Felix Romero (215) provided some valuable team points for Monte with second-place finishes.
Elma was led by standouts Xavier Espinoza and Blaize Salazar.
Espinoza defeated teammate Aidyn Johnson via medical forfeit to win the 120-pound crown after winning three matches to start the day.
Salazar bested Kjesbu via a pinfall at 1:22 to win the 144-pound weight class.
Elma scored 144 points to place sixth overall.
Full meet results available at trackwresling.com.
Team standings
1, Zillah, 233.5. 2, Montesano, 183. 3, Castle Rock, 175.5. 4, Mount Baker, 161. 5, Klahowya, 147. 6, Elma, 144. 7, Forks, 110.5. 8, Kalama, 101. 9, Rainier, 76.5. 10, Rochester, 68. 11, Naches Valley, 62. 12, Nooksack Valley, 61.5. 13, Tenino, 61. 14, Vashon Island, 50. 15, Lind-Ritzville, 41. 16, Adna, 11.
Local individual medalists
106: 2, Finley Ekerson, Montesano. 4, Jordan Meadows, Elma.
113: 5, Adam Schmitz, Montesano. 6, Luis Torres, Elma.
120: 1, Xavier Espinoza, Elma. 2, Aidyn Johnson, Elma.
132: 3, Ben Totten, Elma. 4, Alex Salstrom, Montesano.
138: 4, Troy Rupe, Elma.
144: 1, Blaize Salazar, Elma. 2, Kole Kjesbu, Montesano.
160: 5, Liam McManus, Elma. 6, Rusty Johnson, Elma.
165: 1, Gage Stutesman, Montesano.
175, 2, Gabe Pyhala, Montesano. 6, Levi Russell, Elma.
215: 2, Felix Romero, Montesano.
285: 1, Logan Roberts, Montesano.
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Aberdeen second at Ron Baze Alumni Invitational
With four individual weight-class champions, the Aberdeen Bobcats placed second overall at the Ron Baze Alumni Invitational on Saturday at Hoquiam High School.
Glenny Black (138 pounds), Michael Hatton (175), Trevin Stewart (215) and Landon Hamblin (285) each won their weight class to lead Aberdeen to 224.5 points, placing second behind event-champion Tumwater (248.5).
Hoquiam placed fourth overall at its home meet with 140.5 points.
Three Grizzlies stood atop the podium on Saturday as Cruz Ortiz-Cruz (120), Junior Soto (126) and Kingston Case (150) each won their weight classes.
Ocosta placed seventh with 123.5 points and was led by Ronin Rutzer’s second-place finish at 150 points – losing to Case via 19-4 technical fall in the final – and had four wrestlers place third in their respective weight class.
Willapa Harbor had a wight-class winner as Lucas Swogger defeated Tumwater’s Gavin Kaikkonen 2-1 to win the 165-pound final.
Full results available at trackwrestling.com.
Team standings
1, Tumwater, 248.5. 2, Aberdeen, 224.5. 3, Liberty (Issaquah), 146.5. 4, Hoquiam, 140.5. 5, Sequim, 137. 6, Washougal, 130.5. 7, Ocosta, 123.5. 8, Castle Rock, 87.5. 9, North Beach, 73.5. 10, Ilwaco, 66.5. 11, Toledo, 64. 12, Willapa Harbor, 59.5. 13, Elma, 46. 14, Taholah, 15.
Individual medalists
106 pounds: 1, Landon Isbell, Castle Rock. 2, Casen Tomlinson, Liberty. 3, Brandon Bair, Sequim. 4, Colten Vandermeulen, Ilwaco. 5, Brycen Parent, North Beach. 6, Cash Gersitz, North Beach.
113: 1, Jackson Mostrom, Liberty. 2, Ryder Lessard, Aberdeen. 3, Diego Concepcion, Tumwater. 4, Joshua Grice, Washougal. 5, Hudson Jackson, Tumwater. 6, Blake Bell, Ilwaco.
120: 1, Cruz Ortiz-Cruz, Hoquiam. 2, Justice Larsson, Hoquiam. 3, Aiden Sled, Washougal. 4, Easton Hufana, Tumwater. 5, Heston Hughes, Castle Rock. 6, Alex Perez, Hoquiam.
126: 1, Junior Soto, Hoquiam. 2, Jaidon Williams, Aberdeen. 3, Torrence Bonina, Ocosta. 4, Ryan Spelker, Sequim. 5, Collin McPherson, Tumwater. 6, Corbin Poirier, Liberty.
132: 1, Alejandro Concepcion, Tumwater. 2, Carter Swofford, Toledo. 3, Burton Chavis, Hoquiam. 4, Adan Martinez-De Jesus, Aberdeen. 5, Maksar Bazarov, Liberty. 6, Israel Rosales, Hoquiam.
138: 1, Glenny Black, Aberdeen. 2, Andrew Yocom, Tumwater. 3, Logan Rutzer, Ocosta. 4, Claudio Lopez Mendez, Ilwaco. 5, Gage Parriott, Liberty. 6, Gio Warness, Aberdeen.
144: 1, Jayms Vilona, Sequim. 2, Gabriel Mendoza-Acoltzi, Liberty. 3, d Place – Conner Reyes of Raymond/South Bend. 4, Adonis Hammonds, Aberdeen. 6-tie, Obadiah Richards, North Beach. 6-t, Brandon Major, Tumwater.
150: 1, Kingston Case, Hoquiam. 2, Ronin Rutzer, Ocosta. 3, Sebastian Matsen, Hoquiam. 4, Elijah Roberts, Elma. 6-t, Fisher Vaughter, Tumwater. 6-t, Marc Avila, Aberdeen.
157: 1, James Mason, Sequim. 2, Mekhi Richardson, Tumwater. 3, Brandon Lam, Liberty. 4, Xavier Pineda, Washougal. 5, James Madden, Castle Rock. 6, Andrew Vannoy, Aberdeen.
165: 1, Lucas Swogger, Willapa Harbor. 2, Gavin Kaikkonen, Tumwater. 3, Ben Tackett, Ocosta. 4, Winston Kaikaka, Hoquiam. 5, Everett Whetzel, Washougal. 6, Liam Boling, Elma.
175: 1, Michael Hatton, Aberdeen. 2, Mikah Parrish-Sederberg, Tumwater. 3, Evan Elliott, Washougal. 4, Riley Burton, Castle Rock. 5, Jayden Hinchcliffe, Tumwater. 6, Zecharia Taylor, Ilwaco.
190: 1, Garrett Lees, Washougal. 2, Cash Short, Tumwater. 3, Bomani Birdwell, Toledo. 4, Tycen Ross, North Beach. 5, Landon Franks, Hoquiam. 6, Clayton Abrams, Sequim.
215: 1, Trevin Stewart, Aberdeen. 2, Dylan Bowen, Sequim. 3, Nathaniel Salas, Tumwater. 4, Chris Eberle, Toledo. 5, Alex Dryden, Elma. 6, Jaiden Leaming, Tumwater.
285: 1, Landon Hamblin, Aberdeen. 2, Michael Camp, Washougal. 3, Mark Sevilla, Ocosta. 4, Yoshiki Suzuki, Liberty. 5, Isaiah White-Frisbee, North Beach. 6, Jojo Villalobos, Castle Rock.
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GIRLS PREP WRESTLING
Aberdeen’s Bell places fourth at Braided 64
Two Twin Harbors girls wrestlers earned a spot on the podium at the prestigious Braided 64 tournament on Friday and Saturday at Kelso High School.
In what may be the largest regular-season girls wrestling meet in the state, Aberdeen’s Felicia Bell and Hoquiam’s Emily Brodhead earned top-eight spots in their respective weight class.
Bell went 6-2 over the two-day event that featured 30 teams and 870 competitors.
One of Aberdeen most decorated female wrestlers in the school’s history, Bell cruised through her four preliminary round matches before losing to Mead’s Raenah Smith via fall at 1:56.
The Bobcats senior then won three-straight matches to advance to the third-place match, where she was once again bested by Smith via fall (3:46).
Hoquiam’s Brodhead also went 6-2 over the weekend to place seventh at 115 pounds.
Brodhead won four championship-round matches – including an 11-7 decision over North Beach standout Mayra Strandberg – to advance to the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by Kelso’s Kamiah Gaerlan via fall at 1:53.
Brodhead then defeated Peninsula’s Lily Robles (fall, 2:05) in the consolation round before losing to Granger’s Gabrielle Berger (fall, 2:33), sending Brodhead to the seventh-place match.
In her final match of the meet, Brodhead defeated Tonasket’s Izzabel Cruz via fall at 2:25 to place seventh overall.
Full results available at trackwrestling.com.
Local medalists
115: 7, Emily Brodhead, Hoquiam
125: 4, Felicia Bell, Aberdeen
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MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
South Puget Sound 81, Grays Harbor 67
Grays Harbor College had its three-game win streak snapped with an 81-67 loss to South Puget Sound on Saturday in Aberdeen.
The Chokers (9-8 overall, 1-1 NWAC West) got into a 15-point hole after the Clippers (13-4, 2-0) shot 56% from the field in the first half and were led by Nehemiah Pollard’s 16 points.
GHC trailed by as much as 33 points in the second half, but behind 16 points from Josh Adamsel Jr., outscored the Clippers by 11 over the final 20 minutes of the game.
Adamsel Jr. scored 18 points to lead the Chokers with teammates Sal Savusa (16 points) and Prashant Chouhan (14 pts.) also scoring in double figures for GHC.
The Chokers shots 39% from the field on 25-of-64 shooting while SPS hit on 54.5% of its shots (30-55).
The Clippers held a 50-36 points-in-the-paint advantage and outrebounded GHC 34-29.
GHC plays at Centralia at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
S. Puget Sound 48 33 – 81
Grays Harbor 23 44 – 67
Scoring: SPS – Pollard 21, Lewis 21, Lawson 16, Bowden 12, Linton 5, Tichenor 2, Biebrich 2, Loncar 2. GHC – Adamsel Jr. 18, Savusa 16, Chouhan 14, Kulang 8, Smith 6, Casebolt 2, Wood 2, Douglas 1.