With less than three weeks remaining in season, the Montesano junior wrestling squad still has five undefeated wrestlers. Cole Ekerson, Hailee Stoken, Ethan Blundred, Denali Harris and Mateo Sanchez are all are eighth-graders and have 39 wins combined this season.
Recently, Blundred and Ekerson were chosen as team co-captains. The wrestlers and coaches believe they are great wrestlers but good leaders.
“The team has a lot of respect and admiration for both of them,” coach Darrel White said. “They each have a bright future in the sport.”
White added:
“Cole is a terrific technician, a very hard worker and a tenacious competitor. He is a wrestling junkie and lives and breathes the sport.”
“Ethan is a gifted athlete who is working to elevate his skills on his feet and in the bottom position to the same level of excellence he displays in the top position. He is deceptively strong and agile, and his pinning and riding abilities are outstanding.”
In the Nov. 29 match against Centralia, Adna, Rochester and Shelton, the Bulldogs finished with 23 wins and 11 losses.
“We had a couple kids make major mistakes that cost them a match, but overall we were very pleased with our team’s effort,” White said.
Highlights included Jesse Hollatz’s near upset victory utilizing a counter to a far cradle. Jesse, behind by 6 points with just seconds to go in his match, performed a technique known as an “arm through counter” that had been introduced to the team only recently by White.
“Hollatz baited his opponent to take a far cradle and then executed the technique to perfection,” White said. “Jesse just ran out of time or he would have scored an upset pin.” The final score was 6-4.
White describes Hollatz as a “smart, cagey wrestler” who “uses his brain as well as his athletic abilities on the mat.”
Wrestlers of the Week
Although there were many successes, Monte coaches singled out seventh-grader Karson Lane and Ethan as Wrestlers of the Week.
Karson, a first-year wrestler, scored two pins and upped his season record to 8-2. “Karson has a great motor, and he just never seems to get tired,” White said. “He is doing well, but we were really impressed that, in his second match, he chained two moves together to score a pin. Chain wrestling is a sure sign that he is starting to understand the sport.”
Ethan, who wrestled two very tough opponents, speedily dispatched both with first-period pins.
“Ethan just keeps getting better and better,” White said. “He is also pushing himself to master new techniques and he listens well when on the mat, both qualities will lead him to even higher levels of success.”
Three additional highlights of the most recent meet involved seventh-grader Jaxson Wilson, and eighth-graders Kaleb Ames and Hailee Stoken. In his first match, Jaxson, who is a tenacious pinner, used a half nelson to literally run his opponent to his back.
“We like to see the kids use their feet and legs to drive an opponent over, and Jaxson really gets it,” White said. The aggressive seventh-grader ran his opponent in several circles with a half nelson before he broke his will and turned him over for the pin. “We tell the kids that, in wrestling, the guy that quits first always loses, and Jaxson really demonstrated that in his match.”
Stoken, the only member of the team to have pinned every opponent she has faced this season, is a feisty and skilled wrestler. When she attempted to execute a high-level throw called a lateral drop in her first match, she ended up flat on her back.
“That was a real shock for Hailee,” White said. “But I have to give her credit, she gave it a shot and then fought off her back to score a pin anyway.” White said that he is confident that Hailee’s interest in and willingness to try new techniques will lead her to great success in the years ahead.
White also gave credit to volunteer assistants Pat Pace and Jacci Ryker for their consistent support and effort in coaching the squad, They are both terrific people and effective coaches. He also pointed to the contributions of his wife of 51 years, Linda, who attends every practice and match and helps keep score during the meets.
“We are lucky to have them working with the team,” White said.
He also lauded the efforts of his wrestler’s parents indicating that they consistently provide the enthusiastic support that the team needs to perform their best: “They make a real difference.”
The wrestling team traveled to Rainier for a six team meet on Tuesday this week and will be in Aberdeen on Thursday where they will compete with wrestlers from Miller Junior High, Raymond, North Beach and Tenino. All wrestling events start at 4:30 pm.
