Fueled by eight individual champions, the W.F. West boys wrestling team romped its way to the 2A District 4 championship Tuesday in Tumwater.
Four of the Bearcats’ five seniors won titles, including Evan Moon at 160, Darren Gray at 170, Bryce Laufenberg at 182 and Bryson Boyd at 285. Senior Caden Cunningham was injured and could not compete.
The other four winners were Boe Davis (138), Blake Ely (145) Henry Jordan (152) and Brock Guyette (195).
“Our kids did great,” W.F. West coach Jamie Rakevich said. “They were happy to be out there and compete, and they competed very well.”
Also placing for the Bearcat boys were Andrew Penland, who was second at 285; Cristo Parriott, who placed third at 138; and Kaden Ryan, who finished fourth at 120.
On the girls side, W.F. West’s Courtney Jones won the 135-pound title.
“This year has been so weird, so we were happy to get on the map and have something that resembled a postseason,” Rakevich said. “To be able to get some sort of a season was a good sendoff for our seniors. As big of a zoo as it was with testing, the seniors rolled with it as leaders. Real big testament to those guys. A lot of guys would have packed it in. They stuck with it and I’m glad they did.”
For Centralia, the Tigers had one individual champion in freshman Antonio Campos. The 120-pounder won by first-round pin in his first match then took a 13-5 decision in the title round. He finishes 16-0 on the season with 13 pins.
“He’s got lots of winning to do,” Centralia coach Scott Phillips said. “We’re real proud of Antonio.”
Continuing with Tiger boys, Elijah Lang took second at 126, freshman Evan Kunkel was fourth at 160 and Alex Hicks-Avron was fourth at 170.
For Tiger girls, sophomore Jade Hudson was up by one point in the 105-pound title match with 30 seconds left and lost by pin.
Junior Analeese Mcallister lost by decision in the 140-pound title match to place second. Paradise Hotchkins was third at 170 and Anna Stinkeoway placed third in the heavyweight division after not having any wrestlers to compete against.
“All our guys and girls battled well,” Phillips said. “All we can do is get better from here. We hope to come back and be right back at it in five months.”
