358 Shares

Armani Tonuao and Joseph Oliver both claimed individual titles to help North Thurston capture the overall team championship at the annual River Ridge Rumble wrestling tournament on January 18.

The Rams, who had five wrestlers advance to the finals, finished with 260 total points to edge host River Ridge (255) for the team title. Aberdeen (244), Steilacoom (218) and Washington (193) rounded up the top five, while Capital finished sixth in the team standings with 158 points.

Tonuao, a junior who is wrestling for the first time, pinned Capital’s Narin Peters in 37 seconds to win the 285-pound title. Tonuao cruised to the championship round after pinning Aberdeen’s Eric Hagter in the quarterfinals in 35 seconds and Capital’s Tyghler Fiola in the semifinals in 63 seconds. Tunuao entered the tournament as the class 3A’s No. 2 ranked wrestler in the division.

Oliver defeated Aberdeen’s Liam Heikkla, 3-1, to win the 195-pound championship. North Thurston has received seconds from Charles Parker (132), Connor Goody (152) and Bruce Price (182) and third-place finishes from Diego Serna (113), Luke Howell (120), Tannar Lee (152) and Makoa Lee (182).

River Ridge’s Riley Edwards knocked off Steilacoom’s Devin Wright, 6-4, to win the 160-pound title. The Hawks also received runner-up performances from Sammy Lile (126), Kaden Rodriguez (145) and Clay Chapman, who lost in the 120-pound finals to Capital’s Zach Learner, 3-1.

Local third-place finishers included Joshua Halpin (126), Sage Hart (132), Robert Smith (170) and Cade Kaufman (220) of Capital, and Joshua Lile (138) and Nathaniel Millin (195) of River Ridge.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
358 Shares