Prairie’s Brayden Sofianos (right) faced Washougal’s Tanner Lees in the 145-pound championship match. Lees would go on to win by pin.
Ridgefield’s Dawson Lieurance wins the 2018 Clark County Championship at 220 pounds.
Hockinson senior Colton Wheeler takes first place at 170 pounds.
Hockinson’s Colton Wheeler was dominant in the 170-pound bracket of the 2018 Clark County Wrestling Tournament.
Ridgefield Spudder Dylan Draper (left) battled Washougal’s Cole Pass in the finals at 126 pounds. Pass won the match 8 to 6.
Hockinson’s Nathan Balderas puts a cradle on his opponent on his way to a third place medal.
Ridgefield senior Miles Bethel on his way to a third place medal at 152 pounds.
Battle Ground sophomore Daniel (Brett) Joner seconds from a pin to win the 120 pound Clark County Championship.
Battle Ground’s Daniel (Brett) Joner wins the 120 pound Clark County Championship.
Southwest Washington’s best high school grapplers battled each other Jan. 12-13 at Skyview High School for the Clark County Wrestling Tournament.
Local bragging rights were on the line and the competition was fierce with schools of all classes competing. This year saw some predictable results with Union High School taking first place team honors for the ninth straight year, but there were also some surprises during the two days of wrestling.
Hockinson
It was not surprising to see Hockinson’s Colton Wheeler in the finals, but what was surprising is just how easy he made it look.
Wheeler took first place in the 170-pound division, after finishing third at Clark County last year. In the finals Wheeler took down his Union opponent Josh Joo within
the first five seconds and nearly ended the bout right then. Joo battled tough and managed to escape in the final seconds of round one making the score 2 to 1 Wheeler.
Joo then chose the down position for round two. Wheeler never let him up, securing a pin less than a minute later. Wheeler, a senior, now has 12 wins and 4 losses on the year as he looks to the final post season of his high school career.
“My goal this year is to do better than last year. I am taking it one match at a time,” he said before his finals match.
Wheeler hopes to attend the United States Naval Academy after high school.
Nathan Balderas took home third place for Hockinson at 285 pounds with a pin in his last match against Battle Ground’s Austin Stewart.
Hockinson senior Dale Anderson looked to follow up his great showing at the Pac Coast tournament by making his mark in the last Clark County tournament of his career. After an early loss in the tournament the senior regained his momentum, but a controversial referee call led to an overtime loss for Anderson who had to settle for fifth place at 145 pounds.
Battle Ground
Battle Ground has a new Clark County champion at 120 pounds in sophomore Daniel (Brett) Joner.
His quarter and semi-final matches were one-sided, with Joner recording a pin and a technical fall (won by 15 points). However the finals bout against Aaron Avery from Union would test Joner, who showed he was up to the challenge.
Twenty seconds into the first round Joner would toss Avery to his back, but only momentarily. Avery countered fluidly and quickly had Joner in trouble, nearly pinning him. Joner toughed it out and finished the first round down 4 to 0. In the second round Joner again put Avery to his back, this time with a front quarter Nelson. But again Avery easily rolled through. Joner liked what he saw however and threw the front quarter again. Avery recovered, but this time not quite as well.
The third time was the charm as Joner turned Avery with a tight front quarter Nelson and ultimately pinned him.
“My goal this year is to get to top five at state,” said Joner in a pre-finals interview.
Battle Ground teammate Spencer Inserra took second place at 152 pounds, losing in the finals to Union standout Danny Snediker. Noah Renk took third place at 160 for the Tigers, and Austin Steward earned a fourth place medal at 285.
Prairie
The Prairie Falcons had the best team showing at the tournament of schools covered by The Reflector with a third place overall finish.
Brayden Sofianos placed highest in the tournament among the Falcons, taking second place at 145 pounds. Two Falcons earned third place medals — Noah Larsen at 106 pounds and Nick Langer at 182 pounds. Teammates Bridger Paradis, Jason Wilcox, and Connor Wood each finished fourth at 113, 132, and 220 pounds respectively.
Ridgefield
The Ridgefield Spudders were led by junior Dawson Lieurance who became Clark County Champion in the 220-pound weight class.
In his finals match Lieurance faced first seed Nehemiah Polk-Rasheed of Fort Vancouver. Polk-Rasheed had been impressive leading up to the finals, but it was all Lieurance in the championship bout that ended 11 to 1 for Lieurance.
Fellow Ridgefield junior Dylan Draper took home a second place medal after a very close finals match against Cole Pass of Washougal that ended 8 to 6 in favor of Pass. The two have wrestled before and will wrestle again before the season is over. Pass leads the series so far this year, but each match is action packed and anything can happen.
Also placing for Ridgefield were senior Miles Bethel (third at 152) and Bryce Lawrence (fifth at 160).
La Center
Robel Grove was the lone placer for La Center at the Clark County tournament. In his final match Grove pinned Jason Wilcox of Prairie to earn third place at 132 pounds.
