Local athletes place at Arlington JV tournament

Lakewood girls have been at the forefront of the burgeoning girls wrestling program in Washington.

Lakewood girls have been at the forefront of the burgeoning girls wrestling program in Washington.

So when the Lady Cougars competed in a girls division at the Arlington JV wrestling tournament Jan. 3, it came as little surprise that state veterans Christina Ordonez and Keely Caldwell had another great showing.

On the girls’ side, groups of four were assembled closely by weight, ensuring each girl three matches. Ordonez and Caldwell both pinned their way through to first place, with Ordonez taking care of each challenger in under a minute.

“Christina and Keely pinning their way through was a dominating performance,” said Lakewood coach Tom O’Hara.

In a big personal victory, a third Lakewood girl won her bracket as well — Chelsea Favro.

Two more Lakewood girls took second place. Competing against teammate Caldwell, Haley Favro took second. Meanwhile in one of the lighter brackets, senior Amanda Gregory took second after a close match against Stanwood’s Casey Mather, who is related to the Spartan coach.

“With a couple of adjustments, we can get her hopefully,” O’Hara said.

The girls’ field was in the neighborhood of about 25 to 30 girls with six weight divisions.

On the boys side, 18 M-P wrestlers trekked up to Arlington for some mat time. With more wrestlers in competition, brackets consisted of eight wrestlers in the 14 weights. Three Tomahawks took first and three more took second.

M-P’s tournament winners were Zack Perkins, who wrestles at 119 pounds, Jake Lervold at 130 and Daniel Hinckley at heavyweight. Tanner Daurie at 112, Josh Wallace at 140 and Ali Al-Mansuri at 160 pounds were runners-up in their groups.

“There were actually a fair number of varsity kids there from other teams,” said M-P junior varsity coach John Hodgins. “With the weather, their coaches wanted to get their guys some mat time. So they were up against good competition.”