By AARON MANAGHAN
Sports editor
It came as no surprise that Olympic would be one of the Oly League’s top wrestling teams this season. After all, the team returns talent across the board while adding some of the top sophomores in the county.
As a result, it also came as no surprise that Oly clobbered Kingston and Port Townsend Wednesday in a double- dual meet hosted by Bremerton High School.
“They all looked pretty good,” Oly coach Bobby Manglona said. “They all had their pluses and minuses.”
In the opener Wednesday, the Trojans cruised to a 64-18 win against first-year Kingston. And while the overall score showed Oly as the dominant team, Manglona said for a first-year school, Kingston will give many teams troubles.
“Honestly, they’ve got tough kids,” Manglona said. “All their kids fought until the very end. They’ve got scrappers on that team and that’s a good thing. That’s what you want to have.”
The Bucs forfeited two weights to Olympic (103 and 140 pounds), while Oly had to give the Bucs 112. On the mats however, Jesse Borcherding (119), Brandon Truini (125), Josh Melencio (130), Branden Yeik (135), Billy Neary (145), Lucas Kogut (152), Ivan Gaeta (171), Shane Galeski (189) and David Reynolds (215) all won.
It was much of the same against Port Townsend as Olympic won in a lop-sided way. This time, Camie Yeik (103), Borcherding, Truini, Branden Yeik, John Geise (140), Neary, Tao Smith (160), Gaeta and Reynolds all found their way into the winner’s circle.
All that even with the team still trying to make weight. Manglona said many of his guys had to wrestle in classes he doesn’t expect they’ll be in later in the year. Also, with the weather flooding many areas around central Kitsap County this week, the team missed out on practice time as well.
“We had to bump up a lot of guys,” he said. “We didn’t get to make the weights we wanted to. We didn’t get to practice.”
But that just means the team stepped up, he said. Manglona also said that as the team gets in shape, the lineup will further shape up.
“By mid-season, you’ll see a change,” Manglona said. “We’re a strong team with good kids. Even ‘Mike and Ike’ Branden Yeik.”
The Trojans host the Olympic Duals Team Tournament at 9 a.m. today at the Kitsap Fairgrounds Pavilion.
“It’s gonna be fun,” Manglona said. “They’ll be ready to roll.”
Klahowya
The Klahowya Eagles fell in two tough matches against 3A Oly Leaguers Peninsula (43-36) and Port Angeles (44-33) on Wednesday at Peninsula High School in Gig Harbor.
Both matches were extremely close, despite the Eagles being without one of the team’s top returners in Karl Neumann.
Factor in the weather, and Klahowya coach Wayne Gizzi said he was just happy to make it though the week. Snow shortened the North Kitsap-hosted Viking Team Challenge Saturday while practices were cancelled through Tuesday because of flooding.
“We were completely unprepared really,” Gizzi said of Wednesday’s double-dual meet. “We came in just scrambling. I felt a whole lot better after practice (Thursday).”
Both Kevin Schiffman at 119 and John Hays at 140 won both their matches, as did Ammon Jensen at 125. Almost every other KSS grappler split in the duals.
The Eagles will also be at the Olympic Duals tournament.
Central Kitsap
The Cougars stared off the Narrows League season with a nice win Thursday, topping Mount Tahoma 44-33 on the road.
Travis Eickmeyer (112), Trevor Stanburg (119), Karl Koemmpel (140), Jake Olson (152), Chase Huntley (160) and Mike Crowley (171) all won by pin fall. Bradley Franco (125) added a 14-6 win for the Cougars, who will also be at Olympic Duals today.
