Wrestling: Four Wolves medal at Fife tournament after tough dual meet against Olympic

The Wolves’ wrestling squad’s last home dual meet of the season ended on a somber note last Thursday.

After weeks of wrestling well and winning against top talent, Sequim senior Hayden Gresli put himself in a good position to score some much needed points for his team against league leaders the Olympic Trojans on Jan. 11. A little over a minute into the 160-pound match-up with Olympic’s Zane Gorham-Roberts, however, Gresli took a fall on his right arm leading him to tap out.

Gresli stood holding his arm prompting coaches to call paramedics.

Sequim coach Bill Schroepfer later said Gresli’s X-rays were negative for any broken bones, but his season is up in the air with just a few weeks to go before the postseason.

“He is a tough kid and wrestling great this year,” Schroepfer said. “I hate to think that it could be a season-ender.”

Aside from the injury, Sequim won one match in the 69-6 loss. Jamie Schroepfer pinned Tim Porter in 47 seconds at 132 pounds to earn Sequim’s lone points.

Sequim’s Ben Newell looked good too, despite an 8-3 loss to Glenn Moe, who Washington Wrestling Report ranks third in 2A at 145 pounds.

Chris Puksta tried to swing momentum for the Wolves at 152 pounds nearly pinning Taylor Andrews in the second period. Puksta trimmed his deficit to 9-7, but in the end he lost, 12-7.

Amara Sayer was one of four girls to wrestle varsity for the Wolves. Facing Ashlynn Morris, ranked fifth among Washington girls at 120 pounds, Sayer lost by technical fall, 16-0. Other girl teammates wrestling ivarsity matches included Alexi Rampp-Taft at 126, Kiara Pierson at 138, and Madison Uranga at 220.

Sequim gave up three forfeits at 106, 113 and 182 pounds.

See pics from the dual meet here.

Lads and Lasses

Four Sequim wrestlers shook off any bad vibes from the dual meet to medal at Fife’s Lads and Lasses Tournament on Jan. 13.

Pierson won the 135-pound bracket to lead the girls to a 13th place finish out of 26 teams.

Pierson opened with a 25-second pin over Caylee Erickson of Rogers, followed by a 38-second pin of Grace Oatfield of Raymond. In Pierson’s third match, she faced fifth-ranked Selena Garza of Curtis and won, 5-1. In the finals, Pierson won 5-4 in overtime over Jemma Souza of Rogers, who is ranked second at 135 pounds.Pierson won with an escape.

Sequim’s Aleah Chen tied for fifth place with Marbella Ramirez of Forks at 155 pounds. Chen recorded two consecutive pins, over Valentina Pavlovic of Ingraham in 1:32 and Cora Dooley of Ocosta in 3:09, before losing to eventual weight-class champion Jennifer Kang of Curtis, and Keilani Jollimore of Lindbergh.

Other girls recording wins included Sayer and Kaydence Hilliard at 120 pounds — both going 1-2 with wins by pin — and Rampp-Taft, who won one match at 125 pounds by injury default.

For Sequim’s boys, Newell took runner-up at 145 pounds to lead the Wolves to a 10th-place finish out of 16 teams.

Newell recorded three pins in a row at 145 pounds, including a pin in 1:15 over Yaitt Murphy-Voitt of Elma, Armani Brooks of Kent Meridian in 1:35, and Simion Mayo-Carrillo of Ingraham in 2:47, before losing to Rochester’s Jayden Lancaster in the finals, 14-1.

Sequim’s Puksta tied for third place at 152 pounds after opening with a 1:33 pin over Rucker Simpkins of Elma and a 10-4 win over Kenna Roberts of Peninsula. Following a third round 5-3 loss to Brady Cummings of Hoquiam, Puksta pinned Mathew Messenger of Puyallup in 4:40.

At 170 pounds, Logan Laxson recorded two pins, one in 3:04 over Eric Le of Curtis and the other over Kryin Bretz of Hoquiam in 4:10. Teammates Garrett Harris (138 pounds) and Amaran Sauiluma (192) both picked up wins too, with Sauiluma pinning Elma’s Austin Williams in 1:54.

Up next

Sequim’s girls travel to North Mason for the Olympic League Girls Dual meet today, Wednesday, Jan. 17, while the boys head to Port Angeles’ Battle of the Axe on Thursday, Jan. 18, and Foss’ Willie C. Stewart Invite on Saturday, Jan. 20.

This season, Hayden Gresli has wrestled well, but he was injured in a match with Olympic’s Zane Gorham-Roberts on Jan. 11. Coaches are unsure if it’ll end his season. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash