Few had Sequim’s state grapplers highly ranked on their radar heading into last weekend’s MatClassic state tournament, but surely they do now.

Sequim senior Alma Mendoza wrestled her way to the 155-pound finals and teammate Kiara Pierson won all but one match on her way to third place as the Lady Wolves posted a 12th-place finish, their best team finish in school history.

Paired with a pair of boys placers — Grant Pierson in fifth at 160 pounds, Adrian Klarich seventh at 182 — and 20th-place team finish, SHS coach Bill Schroepfer said Sequim had a successful weekend.

“I’m really pleased with the team we had this season,” Schroepfer said, “mainly (because of) the family feeling we had.”

See photos from the state tourney here.

Lady Wolf duo domination

Highlighting the state tourney, held at the Tacoma Dome, was Mendoza’s ascension up her weight-class bracket. After back-to-back seventh-place finishes in the previous two seasons (at 125 and 140 pounds), Mendoza faced a weighty foe in Pasco’s Natalie Hall right out of the gate. Hall, ranked No. 3 by washingtonwrestlingreport.com, couldn’t move Mendoza all match, a scoreless draw for nearly six minutes. Just before the end of regulation, Mendoza quickly swept Hall onto her back for a reversal and 2-0 win.

That proved to be a springboard for the Sequim grappler, who followed that with an 11-0 win over Giuliana Pepe of Mount Rainier in the quarterfinals and a 17-0 technical fall rout of Hoquiam’s Jenna Doll in the semifinals.

“She came out this weekend like Alma of years past,” Schroepfer said. “She was kind of in a funk (during the season) but she kind of cranked it out and got to the finals.”

In the final, Ally De La Cruz of Kamiak pinned Mendoza in the second period.

“(Alma) was a little overwhelmed — she didn’t feel like she should have been there — (but) I was tickled pink by how she wrestled this weekend,” Schroepfer said.

Pierson nearly matched her teammate, losing one match by a single point on her way to the medal stand.

“It feels different this year,” said Pierson, who took eighth as a freshman and fourth at last year’s MatClassic. “My mental game is stronger. If I’d lose, I’d be hard on myself.”

“It’s be great to place in the top five,” Pierson said after her first match — and a day later, she did.

Pierson started the tourney with a first-period pin of Alexis Mendoza of Warden.

In the quarterfinals, however, she fell 1-0 to eventual weight class runner-up Sierra Joner of Battle Ground.

Pierson quickly rebounded, pinning Klahowya’s Ashley Hubble in 2:06, edging Payton Stroud of White River 3-2 and earning a second-period pin of Granger’s Mayu Molina to earn a spot in the consolation semifinals. There, she won a classic, 2-1 decision over Julie de la Cruz of Meridian for third place.

“She’s a competitor; there is no quit in her,” Schroepfer said of Pierson. “She bounces back.”

In the 120 final, Puyallup’s Brooklyn Bartelson — who beat Pierson 1-0 in the regional final — edged Joner, 3-1.

“My wrestling season is not going to end at this,” Pierson said. “Wrestling’s kind of my sport (and) I want to wrestle in college.”

The SHS junior said she appreciated having her brother Grant, a senior, on the team.

“He helps me out a lot (and) has always been supportive,” Kiara Pierson said.

SHS boys take 20th

Grant Pierson wasn’t going to let a first-round loss keep him from the medal stand. The SHS senior shrugged off an early defeat to post four wins in five matches and take fifth place overall at 160 pounds.

The effort was a considerable one, Schroepfer said, because Pierson picked up a pin against No. 6-ranked Logan Madison, a senior from Olympic who had beaten Pierson in overtime a week before at regionals and again the previous week at a sub-regional tourney.

“I told him (that) those two matches didn’t matter,” Schroepfer said. “Grant just dominated.”

Pierson split his first two matches before pinning Madison in in 1:53, then edged out Flores Pimentel of Selah, 4-3.

Pierson then fell to top-ranked Deandre Williams of Washington in the consolation semifinals, before winning a match with Ahma Jumper of Steilacoom by injury default.

“That’s a first for Sequim, for a brother and sister to place at state,” Schroepfer said. “It was pretty emotional for the kids, for the family, for me.”

Klarich, a senior who went winless in two matches at MatClassic last season, worked his way to the medal stand by going 3-2.

Klarich opened with a second-period pin of Orting’s Darius Gilchrist, a match in which the Sequim grappler was nearly pinned early on.

Salvador Osorio put Klarich in the consolation bracket with a 17-10 decision in the quarterfinals.

The Sequim 182-pounder then pinned Audre Seabrook of Mountlake Terrace late in a match where he was down three points with 30 seconds left.

Boedy Taylor of Cheney pinned Klarich in his penultimate matchup, before Klarich once again pinned Gilchrist for seventh place.

SHS’s Austin Budd went 1-2 in his 170-pound weight division. He won his first match, a dominating 9-0 decision over Steilacoom’s Tobias Brown, before falling 6-3 to Reese Jones of Othello — the weight class’ eventual champion — and 10-4 to Franklin Pierce’s Jordan Lapointe, who placed fourth.

“State always seemed like something above me,” said Budd, a sophomore who began wrestling last year. “Now I’m here, it’s (just) another match.”

Schroepfer said Budd was disappointed but seemed to feel he belonged among the best in the state.

“I think he’ll be Sequim’s next state champ — if not next year, then the next,” Schroepfer said.

Dylan Perreira also competed for the Wolves, falling in both of his 195-pound weight class matches. Reyne Mack of Mountlake Terrace, who placed fourth overall, downed Perreira 9-2 in the first round and Jonovan Omar of Highline, who placed eighth, ended the Sequim senior’s state tourney 12-6 in the consolation bracket.

“I was just excited for (Dylan) to be here,” Schroepfer said. “He wrestled 20 pounds lighter (and) never quit. I couldn’t have dreamed of this last year.”

MatClassic notes

Sequim’s 20th-place boys finish was their best showing since 2007, when they took 15th. The Wolves did not send a wrestler to state in 2013-2014 and improved to 50th the following season and 44th in 2015-2016 … The previous best for Sequim’s girls was a tie for 14th place in 2006-2007 … The only Olympic League team to place higher was No. 8-ranked Olympic, which wound up 12th. North Mason placed 31st and Port Angeles was 38th … Toppenish took the 2A boys team crown, with Orting second and White River third … Tahoma won the class 4A title, while Bonney Lake edged Kelso for the 3A crown. Granger was tops among 1A schools, Tonasket won the 1B/2B team title and Yelm claimed the girls team championship.