Wildcats bring home honors | Wrestling

The Oak Harbor High School wrestling team produced an MVP and a weight-class champion in a pair of tournaments Saturday, Jan. 2.

The Oak Harbor High School wrestling team produced an MVP and a weight-class champion in a pair of tournaments Saturday, Jan. 2.

Dymond Piper won the Most Valuable Wrestler Award at the Battle of the AXE Tournament in Port Angeles.

Meredith Bain captured the 190-pound class at the Sedro-Woolley Girls Tournament.

Caitlin Woodworth (155) was the only other Wildcat to compete in Sedro-Woolley, going 2-2 in the tournament.

In Port Angeles, the Wildcats placed fourth in the six-team tournament but would have been in a running for the title had they not forfeited three weight classes.

Oak Harbor faced each opponent in a dual match and defeated North Mason 39-21 and Sequim 64-30.

The Wildcats lost 39-35 to Jackson, 42-40 to Hoquiam and 51-26 to Port Angeles, giving away 15 points because they didn’t field athletes in the 145-, 195- and 220-pound divisions.

Piper (152 pounds) went 5-0 on the way to taking MVP honors.

“He turned a lot of heads and impressed many of the coaches and officials,” Oak Harbor coach Larry Falcon said.

Sam Zook (285) also went undefeated for Oak Harbor, and Nick Dugin (170) wrestled well, according to Falcon.

“Overall, it was a great start to the new year,” Falcon said.

The Wildcats received positive comments on “how well they were trained and conditioned,” Falcon said.

Oak Harbor (6-5) opens Wesco North action when it travels to Marysville-Pilchuck (3-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 7.

(Oak Harbor’s Garrett Stahl, left, and Caleb Fitzgerald, below, work for pins at Port Angeles. Photos by John Fisken.)