Cayden Beauregard entered the season with a top-10 state ranking. He’s doing plenty to show he’s earned that honorific.
The Sequim High senior went 6-1 and placed third at the uber-competitive Pac Coast Wrestling Championships, held Dec. 21-22 in Ridgefield, Wa.
This year’s Pac Coast tournament drew 140 boys and girls teams from 78 high schools in Washington state and Oregon, and on Thursday, more than 2,000 matches were completed on 12 mats during the tournament’s first day — making it the largest wrestling tournament ever held in Southwest Washington, according to The Columbian.
Beauregard, seeded fourth in the 113-pound weight bracket featuring 58 wrestlers, opened with a pin in 3:33 of Evan Hart of RA Long, then won by technical fall (18-3) over Quincy Wilson of South Kitsap. He added a pin of Sumner’s Amaleki Hanes in 4:25 to earn a spot in the quarterfinals, where he earned a pin of fifth-seeded Donald Hetrick of Silas, in 4:00.
In the semifinals, Beauregard was pinned by eventual champ, No. 1-seeded Max Blanco of Clackamas — the Oregon state champ in the 6A classification — in 2:26, but he rebounded to beat Aven Anderson of Stanwood, 16-7, in the consolation semis.
In the consolation finals — a rematch of the quarterfinals — Beauregard fell behind Silas’ Hetrick 4-1 but earned a takedown and a three-point near-fall with 40 seconds remaining for a 6-4 victory.
Nine other Sequim grapplers took part in the tourney, with Riley Downs (138) going 3-2 and Johnny Vilona (132), Ari Skov (275) and Dylan Bowen (190) each going 2-2. Bowen, Skov and Vilona each earned two pins.
Also earning one pin each were Downs, James Mason (150) and James Smith (157).
“The purpose of going to (recent tournaments) was to give the team a picture of who is out there and how they stack up against them,” Sequim coach Steve Chinn said.
”I’m really pleased with the effort and support this team has for one another. We have a great senior class that is helping our younger kids as they develop.”
The Wolves compete in the Battle of the Axe tourney in Port Angeles on Jan. 6, and host Bremerton and Port Angeles on Jan. 10.
Sequim is at the Island Invitational (Bainbridge) on Jan. 13 before league matches at North Mason (Jan. 24) and East Jefferson (Jan. 26).
