Five Sequim wrestlers — two juniors and three freshmen — are moving on to regionals after earning top-four finishes at the Olympic League sub-regional at Bremerton High School on Feb. 4.

Leading the way are a pair of 106-pounders who placed first and second. Junior Cayden Beauregard pinned freshman teammate Aiden Galvin with a pin in 3:18 in the finals. Beauregard earned an 18-3 technical fall over North Kitsap’s Nolan Hancock in one semifinal while Galvin pinned Xavier Powell in 91 seconds in the other semi.

“Aiden has improved so much over the year; he’s going to be tough,” Sequim head coach Steve Chinn said.

After receiving byes in the first two rounds, SHS freshman Ryan Spelker topped Port Angeles’ Alex Burrow 14-7 in the semifinals at 113 pounds, and took second overall to Olympic’s Xion Horne.

Ari Skov, a junior, placed third in a competitive 170-pound weight bracket. He earned a technical fall over North Mason’s Caden Atencio. After losing in the semifinals, Skov rebounded with a 4-0 win over North Kitsap’s John Webb in the consolation semifinals, and earned a pin in a rematch over North Mason’s Atencio for third place.

Freshman Sam Shinkle took fourth overall at 160 pounds. Coming into the tourney with a 7-8 overall mark, Shinkle was pinned by Port Angeles’ A.J. Martinez, but rebounded with a pin of Olympic’s Jeremiah Swain in 4:55, and North Mason’s Keegan Bonnell in 4:06 before falling to PA’s Martinez a second time in the third/fourth place match.

“Sam … needs to be a little less risky; he was going full bore [against Martinez] and puts himself at risk,” Chinn said.

“He got in trouble a couple of times in his matches he’d get out of position … and it’s something we’ve got to fine tune.”

The five Wolves advance to the Region 2 tournament at North Mason High School in Belfair on Saturday, Feb. 11, with the top four advancing to the MatClassic tournament at the Tacoma Dome the following weekend (Feb. 17-18).

Chinn said the Wolves were at a bit of a disadvantage this postseason, with many wrestlers having just a dozen or fewer total varsity matches under their belt.

“We’re still not wrestling enough, ” Chinn said following the sub-regional tourney.

“We had a bunch of things affecting us, negatively … [but] I’m really proud of the kids.

“We still need to work on some fundamental things — it’s [things like] just shifting your body weight — but they’re getting the general idea.

“I wish we had two more months to the season.”

Dylan Bowen is a regional tourney alternate after earning fifth place at 182 pounds. He went 1-2, earning a 9-4 decision over Gabriel Happli of Olympic.

James Smith earned a win at 152 pounds and went 1-2 overall, pinning Mahmood Mohammad of Olympic in 2:03.

Roger Burwash went 1-2 at 160 pounds, picking up a 6-2 win over Jayse Gasca of North Mason.

Sequim senior Aaron Tolberd was unable to wrestle.

The Wolves finished sixth overall out of seven teams at the sub-regional tourney with 115 points. North Kitsap dominated the tourney with 366 points, well ahead of runner-up Olympic (202 points). North Mason (188.5) was third, followed by Bremerton (166), Port Angeles (163), Sequim and Kingston (42).

Diaz places sixth

Isabella Diaz couldn’t escape Paris Piccolo, a 32-match winner from Orting, and wound up in sixth place in the girls sub-regional at White River High School in Buckley on Feb. 4.

Diaz, 19-11 on the season, dropped a 4-0 decision to Piccolo in the quarterfinals before rebounding to pin Blessings Gitari of Clover Park in 3:22.

With a regional berth on the line, Diaz dropped a 3-2 heart-breaker to Tebisi White of Lincoln, and then fell 8-0 in a rematch with Piccolo in the regional alternate match.

Sequim takes seventh at Keigen Langhoff Memorial

Sequim grapplers prepped for the postseason at the Keigen Langhoff Memorial in West Seattle on Jan. 28, taking seventh place overall in the 10-team tourney.

Beauregard went 3-0 with three pins, taking down state-ranked Nate Cronin of 3A Central Kitsap in the finals in the second consecutive tourney final. Beauregard — ranked No. 8 in the state but at 113 pounds — pinned Wesley Bullock of Olympic in 27 seconds in the quarterfinals, then Elijah Jepsen of Shoreline in 3:28 in the finals, before pinning Cronin in 2:40.

Spelker went 2-2 in the same weight class and placed fourth, with pins of Klahowya’s Wilson Zeigler (in 5:03) and Olympic’s Bullock (2:57).

After going 3-1 and taking second place at the Islander Invitiational in Jan. 14, Tolberd repeated the feat at the Keigen Langhoff tourney. Tolberd pinned Jediah Sanders of East Jefferson in 1:07 and Olympic’s Jackson Brown in 45 seconds before pinning Ike Banks of East Jefferson in 1:56 in the tourney semifinals. East Jefferson’s Manaseh Lanphear Ramirez topped Tolberd 16-2 in the final.

Shinkle picked up a pair of wins in the 160-pound weight class, pinning Manu Rivas of Kingston in 1:56 and Olympic’s Drew Walters in 3:23.

At 170 pounds, Skov went 2-1 with two quick pins to place second. He pinned Central Kitsap’s Andrew Cronin in 35 seconds and Bremerton’s Jaden Wahrenbrock in 1:07 before falling to CK’s Cole Erickson in the 170 final.

Sequim freshman Warren Nichols earned a win at 170 pounds, pinning Nathaniel Hernandez of Shoreline in 5:22.

In the girls’ 120-pound weight class, Sequim’s Isabella Diaz went 2-1 and placed third. She earned an 8-2 decision over Klahowya’s Audrey Younger and, after dropping a three-point decision in the semifinals, pinned Younger in 5:32 for third overall.

In team scoring, Central Kitsap (149 points) took top honors, followed by Klahowya (124) and Olympic (102). Port Angeles was fifth.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Sam Shinkle, right, wrestles Port Angeles’ A.J. Martinez in a sub-district match on Feb. 4 at Bremerton High School. Martinez won the match and placed third 1t 160 pounds, while Shinkle placed fourth. Both advance to regionals.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Dylan Bowen, left, wrestles Taylor Delmendo of North Kitsap in a sub-district match on Feb. 4 at Bremerton High School. Bowen placed fifth and is an alternate to the regional tournament.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s James Smith, right, pins Mahmood Mohammad of Olympic in the 152-pound weight class at a sub-regional tournament in Bremerton on Feb. 4.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / From left, Sequim’s Cayden Beauregard, head coach STeve Chinn and assistant coach Kelly Reichner cheer on Sequim’s James Smith in the 152-pound weight class at a sub-regional tournament in Bremerton on Feb. 4. Smith pinned Mahmood Mohammad of Olympic.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Cayden Beauregard, top right, takes on North Kitsap’s Nolan Hancock at a sub-district tournament in Bremerton on Feb. 4. Beauregard won the match by technical fall (18-3) and took first place overall at 106 pounds.