Senior Blake McBride’s seventh-place finish led the way for the six Oak Harbor High School wrestlers who competed in the state wrestling tournament, Mat Classic XXXI, Friday and Saturday, Feb. 15 and 16, at the Tacoma Dome.

Oak Harbor placed 36th in the 3A team standings with 22.5 points. Mount Spokane claimed the title with 235.5.

All of the Wildcats won at least one match at state.

Coupeville’s Alex Turner also took part, splitting his four 1A matches.

McBride came into the tournament ranked fourth in the 145-pound class by Washington Wrestling Report.

He won by a technical fall (16-0) over Chayse Lydy of Wilson in the opening round. He then nipped fifth-ranked Nathan Johnson of Peninsula 2-1 to reach the quarterfinals, where he lost 6-1 to top-ranked and eventual state champion Dominic Damon of Nathan Hale. McBride gave Damon his closest match in the tournament.

McBride bounced back to pin (1:57) Champ Putman of Chief Sealth, before losing a re-match with Johnson 6-2. Johnson went on to finish third.

McBride topped Ingraham’s Simion May-Carrillo 5-2 in the match for seventh-place.

This was McBride’s third trip to state; he placed sixth as a sophomore.

Caleb Fitzgerald came within one match of placing at 126 pounds.

The fifth-ranked Fitzgerald was upset by 21st-ranked Alexander Lovisov of Lakes 14-4 in the first round.

The Wildcat senior recovered to win three straight decisions, defeating Isaiah Irungu of Chief Sealth 6-0, Riley Bonser of Mount Spokane 4-1 and Gage Shipley of Hermiston 3-1.

Fitzgerald was eliminated by sixth-ranked Ryan Brown of Bethel with a fall (2:04). Brown went on to take eighth.

Thibault Simorato, ranked 24th, recorded a pair of upsets at 132 pounds. He stopped 13th-ranked Johnaven Notti of Lincoln 18-11 before losing to top-ranked and champion Austin Almaguer of Kamiakin 17-2.

Simorato then upset 15th-ranked Clayton Kunz of Evergreen of Vancouver with a pin (0:46). Fifth-ranked Reise Eide of Yelm knocked Simorato out of the tournament with a fall (4:36).

Jakob Dailey, ranked 23rd, won two of four matches at 126 pounds. He was pinned (3:34) by ninth-ranked Kieron Lawes of Bonney Lake, who advanced to finish third, in the first round. He followed the loss with two wins, topping Emmett Donnelly of Nathan Hale 13-2 and 19th-ranked Kelvin Schmidt of Shorecrest 7-1, before losing 9-6 to 10th-ranked Kevin Chen of Mountain View.

Shamus Warden, ranked 23rd at 113 pounds, picked up a win in his second match, edging 20th-ranked Landon Pate of Peninsula 6-4 in overtime. He lost to fourth-ranked and third-place finisher Fabian Flores of Lincoln by a fall (:55) in the opening round and to 21st-ranked Cooper Flowers of Eastside Catholic by a fall (1:20) in round three.

In the girls tournament, which includes wrestlers from all classifications, Oak Harbor’s Ella Erikson captured one of three matches at 115 pounds. Torrie Blackwood of Lakewood beat Erikson 7-3, then Erikson pinned (3:47) Maricella Rodriguez of Evergreen. Tenth-ranked and sixth-place finisher Kayla Brosius of Union defeated Erikson 11-0 in an elimination match.

Turner, wrestling at 170 pounds, started the tournament by thumping Finnegan McClure of Vashon Island 15-0. He then lost to the eventual eighth-place finisher Micah Tenny of Lakeside-Nine Miles Falls 7-4. Turner rebounded to bury Juan Perez of Highland 13-1, but was nipped 2-1 by Jared Pendell of Medical Lake in his final match.