NK wins, but 4 Kitsap teams dominate BI invitational

By Nicholas Zeller-Singh Kitsap News Group • January 15, 2023 1:30 am

North Kitsap won the Island Invitational wrestling tournament at Bainbridge High School Jan. 14 with 191.5 points, 17.5 points ahead of Mercer Island.

Four of the top six teams are from Kitsap County.

Central Kitsap finished third out of 16 teams with 157 points, Olympic finished fourth with 117, Bremerton tied for fifth with 116, Bainbridge finished ninth with 79 and Kingston 14th with 39 points.

The boys were placed in 16-man brackets even though some brackets had as few as eight wrestlers.

North Kitsap and Bremerton had three first-place wrestlers, the most out of any school in the county. Vikings Jaxon Johnson won the 138-pound division while Zakaria and Sofian Hammou won at 195 and 220 pounds.

Knights Brennan Galloway, Thor Michaelson and Lars Michaelson won the 160-,170- and 182-pound divisions. The three combined for seven pins in nine matches.

North Kitsap had several other wrestlers finish in the top six. Ben Gomez medically forfeited to take second at 182 pounds while Wyatt Trogden, Jake Poggi and Morgan Scott Paul each earned third in the 126-,160- and 170-pound divisions. Also, Jesus Mares took fifth as a heavyweight, and Mason Holmes earned sixth at 152 pounds.

Bremerton had two other wrestlers place, Matthew Chichester took fifth at 138 and Cole Sanford took sixth at 220 pounds.

Central Kitsap controlled the lighter weights. Nate Cronin won the 106-pound division while Quentin Lawrence picked up a gold medal in the 132-pound class. Livi Beebe earned bronze at 138 pounds and Ethan Huff had a fifth-place finish at 113 pounds. The Cougars had three wrestlers place in the heavier divisions. Chris Cartagena led the Cougs with a gold at 152 pounds. Cole Erickson took second at 170, and Adam Bayne fifth at 160 pounds.

Olympic’s Mason Manglona and Kevin Hudson got first place in the 120 and heavyweight divisions. Elijah Lampano finished fourth at 195, Xion Horne fifth at 113, Daniel Rosales fifth at 145 and Jeremiah Swain sixth at 160 pounds.

Bainbridge had four wrestlers reach the podium while Kingston had three.

Wyatt Chabot and Wyatt Goade captured second in the 152- and 220-pound classes. Garrett Goade finished fourth at 170, and Retto Peato sixth at 132 pounds.

Kingston’s placers came in the heaviest brackets. Joshua Arnim finished fifth at 195 pounds, Jefferson Hernandez fourth at 220 and Gavin Garner sixth at heavyweight.