By Tanner House

The Forks Wrestling Club took 18 wrestlers to the mats Sunday, February 19 at the Tacoma dome for the WSWA Folkstyle state championships. Blood sweat and tears started flowing bright and early as Forks Wrestling Club started the day off with a bang!

Seven of 18 wrestlers placed in the top six in their insanely large brackets! Liam Coburn and Kaden Crowder both wrestled U10 105lbs. Liam placed 6th in state and Kaden placed 4th in state. Levi Bechtold had a very impressive day winning his first match but losing his second match which placed him in the constellation bracket and wrestling six more times to finish 5th overall in his bracket of 21 competitors.

Jade Blair smashed through her opponents and fell short of true second place and finished 3rd in girls’ grade 6-8 at 136. Kenzie Bechtold who battled illness all week came in hungry for victory disposing of all of her opponents and capturing her very first state championship! Kenzie is a first-year wrestler and very skilled for her age.

Paxton Kershner continued what he has done all year by slaughtering his competition and pinning his way to his very first state championship as well.

Paxton finished the season 14-1 terrorizing his opponents with 12 pins and one technical fall. Paxton like teammate Kenzie (and wrestling partner) is extremely talented and will be one to watch for years to come! I would like to thank the athletes for always working to improve and trying their best, the parents for getting their kids to these tournaments, and the Forks wrestling club coaches and volunteers who help out five nights a week preparing these young athletes!