Sequim siblings take medal stand at state MatClassic wrestling tournament

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Sequim High senior Grant Pierson started his wrestling career with his sister Kiara and he knew he wanted to finish it with her, too.

The duo placed fifth and third to become Sequim’s first siblings to place at the state MatClassic tournament.

This was Grant’s first trip to state and he knew it would mean more competing with Kiara.

“My goal was to wrestle with my sister,” he said. “I thought it’d be a nice capstone to my wrestling career.”

Grant went on to win four of six matches at 160 pounds, including one over a longtime rival. Kiara, a junior, won five of six matches in the girls’ 120-bracket after placing fourth in 2016 and eighth as a freshman.

A wrestling life

The Piersons seem to live and breathe wrestling especially in the wintertime.

But finding their niche actually took awhile.

Their family moved to Sequim from North Idaho in 2010 but both Grant and Kiara only wrestled one year in elementary school prior.

Grant said their parents Scott and Lisa would drive them for hours to weekend tournaments often leaving before dawn so he and Kiara could wrestle.

“When you’re young, it’s just like play,” Grant said. “You got a ribbon no matter what.”

The Piersons come from a wrestling family with their grandfather Jack Pierson a state champ in his youth in Minnesota.

Even though he was ill, Jack traveled to the MatClassic in 2015 to watch Kiara compete.

But her path to state competitor wasn’t always hugs and high-fives. At first, it was tough, she and her family recall.

“I remember wrestling this boy and I lost and I cried,” she said.

When she joined the Sequim Middle School team in eighth grade, it “surprised the heck” out of her dad.

“I remember her crying on the mats, “Dad, I never want to do this again,” Scott said.

Kiara became inspired though as a seventh-grader watching her brother compete and future teammate Alma Mendoza.

“I’d go into the Community School gym and watch them practice and wonder who was that girl practicing,” Kiara said.

“Alma was the only girl I saw wrestling at the middle school level that year. It was inspiring to see her out there. When I was in middle school, I viewed it as the boys’ sport but then I saw Alma out there and I thought, ‘Oh, she’s doing it. Maybe I should do it my eighth grade year.’”

With Mendoza, who placed second at 155 pounds this season after back-to-back seasons placing seventh at state, she and Kiara led the Lady Wolves to their best team finish ever at 12th place with just two wrestlers.

Ranks

This school year, Grant hit a number of other milestones — homecoming king, Eagle Scout, and he was accepted into West Point.

With all the accolades, Grant is content with where he finished at state.

“Throughout the year I beat quite a few of the people in the top-10 rankings,” he said. “I was right where I should have been.”

Kiara said prior to the MatClassic, she was ranked seventh by Washington Wrestling Report after a lower-than expected seeding at regionals despite a higher ranking earlier in the season.

“It’s nice to do better than what you are ranked,” Kiara said.

However, getting to that state-level takes a lot of hard work, they said.

“Wrestling is a true demonstration of character as in really seeing the core of a person especially when they are alone on the mat,” Grant said.

“It’s a demonstration of all they’ve done off the mat in a six-minute window — in the offseason, training, at home — it’s a representation of all that work.”

“It can be a love-hate relationship,” Kiara said.

“It’s just you out on the mat and you have nobody to blame but yourself. But that’s what makes it so rewarding. It just shows all the hard work.”

For Kiara, she ran cross country and track to help with endurance while Grant said he participated in twice-a-week open gyms in the offseason and they both went to wrestling camps.

The Piersons continued to hone their skills this season, too.

“(Kiara’s) moves are meaningful,” Grant said.

“She’ll use her head. She plays a really good neutral game and makes the other player move. She’s used to the face-to-face. It’s a grind.”

Kiara likes how Grant perfected a blast double move, which she says is a high shot at an opponent’s chest.

“It’s really hard to defend,” she said. “I wish I could do that well with a blast.”

Support

Scott Pierson said his children worked hard to achieve their athletic and academic goals.

“You can hear the conversations in the kitchen,” he said. “How coaches are treating them, how training is going and all that.”

Lisa Pierson said she never expected to be watching her daughter wrestling but she’d “go down any dark alley with confidence with my daughter.”

She’s also proud of all the goals her son has accomplished.

“I’m speechless of how proud I am of everything they do,” Lisa said.

While their parents may gush, Grant and Kiara continue their support off and on the wrestling mat.

Lisa said her favorite match from state pits Grant against Logan Madison of Olympic, whom Grant lost to two times in a row at regionals in overtime and sub-regionals this season.

“I’ve watched the video maybe 15 times,” she said.

When she first saw Madison (this season), she thought he looked like a Greco-Roman body builder.

“I was thinking, ‘oh my gosh, Grant is long and lanky,’ but Grant came out so strong with his double shot and he was dominating the whole match,” Lisa said.

Grant’s match decided who went onto the second day of the MatClassic and he pinned Madison in 1:53.

“(Madison) was a two-time state placer and this was something to watch,” Lisa said. “Grant performed stellar and Kiara was right there live recording, yelling at him what to do for every move.”

“You can hear Kiara yelling on the video and it’s the same for Grant. He’s always coaching her, too,” Scott said.

While Grant readies for the United States Military Academy after graduating this spring, and Kiara has another year left, their mom knows they’ll remain constants in each other’s lives.

“They are always very supportive of one another,” she said. “They’re not just brother and sister. They are great friends.”

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.