Following their impressive showing at the statewide Mat Classic wrestling tournament, including two state championship wins, the W.F. West High School boys and girls wrestling teams were both honored with a special proclamation by the Chehalis City Council on Monday night.
Nine Bearcat wrestlers placed fifth or better in their prospective weight classes as they competed for state titles.
Boys team wrestlers:
Girls team wrestlers:
• Kaylee Lehman, fifth in state, 130
Chehalis Mayor Tony Ketchum congratulated all nine wrestlers for their efforts and accomplishments and joked around with Matagi, who had four brothers who were also high school wrestlers.
“You’re the first one to take a title, so you get to hold the crown over (your) brothers,” Ketchum said.
He also thanked the team for representing Chehalis with pride and enthusiasm.
W.F. West boys wrestling coach Jamie Rakevich was proud of the work both the boys and girls teams put in.
“We had a really good weekend (at state), an awesome group of kids and families. We had the whole team show up instead of just the placers. Even the guys that weren’t there, they put a lot of work into those kids getting them there too, being practice partners. It was a huge accomplishment,” Rakevich said.
Despite eight seniors graduating and moving on from the teams, Rakevich told The Chronicle he is still looking forward to next season and trying to achieve the same levels of success after having four wrestlers make the finals.
“The girls are losing two and we’re losing six (wrestlers), but we’re gonna reload and go again,” he said.
