Submitted by The Evergreen State College
Action for the men’s wrestling team from The Evergreen State College will begin at the Simpson Duals on Saturday, Nov. 2 as the 2024-25 season gets underway in Reding, California. The Geoducks will play five matches on Saturday, as they take on Cascade Collegiate Conference rivals Southern Oregon University and Westcliff University (Calif.) along with Fresno City College (Calif.) and host Simpson. Evergreen also will compete against an All-Star squad of additional wrestlers who are members of teams at the meet.
It’s the start to Evergreen’s second season in intercollegiate men’s wrestling. Evergreen began t’s program with the 2023-24 season.
“We are super excited to embark on this journey of our second season here at TESC,” Head Coach Greg Ford said. “We look forward to competing against almost all of our conference, while having experience and depth on the roster. We have had a year of maturation and brought in a roster that is ready to compete.”
Top returning wrestlers for the Geoducks are Jeramias Sandoval (So.) at 141 pounds, Seth Dawkins (So.) at 157 pounds, and Will Willsey (So.) at 285 pounds. Sandoval was 19-9 a year ago, as he placed third at the Mountaineer Open, was third at the Spokane Open, and won his match against Grays Harbor College. Dawkins won his match against Grays Harbor and was 12-8 on the season. Willsey placed fifth at the Mountaineer Open, was fourth at the Mike Clock Open, and won versus Grays Harbor. Willsey was 10-6 overall.
“I have high hopes for a lot of our athletes,” Ford commented. “We have some young talent that is searching for challenges. It’s hard to just highlight a couple of guys because our focus is T.E.A.M.: Together Everybody Achieves More. We want to highlight the competitiveness in our room, and the family dynamic we are building. Our athletes are supporting each other and ensuring that they are all successful on and off the mat.”
Standouts among Evergreen’s newcomers include Ronnell Parker-Borrero (Fr.) at 184 pounds along with Mallachi Wallway (So.) at 125 pounds, and Hunter Sonnenberg (Fr.) at 197 pounds. Parker-Borrero was a state champion in Washington as a high school wrestler. Wallway was ranked sixth in the Sacred Heart Conference while attending Waldorf University (Iowa) last year. Sonnenberg earned All-America honors as an Under-20 Greco-Roman wrestler, and was a freestyle and Greco-Roman state champion in high school. He transferred to Evergreen from the University of Mary (N.D.).
Evergreen will not have a match at the Costantino Recreation Center until Jan. 18, when the Geoducks host Washington State University and the University of Idaho, starting at 7 p.m. PST. The Geoducks will then host the Evergreen Open on Jan. 19. Early in the season, Evergreen will take on North Idaho College on Nov. 8 at a neutral site in Maple Valley, Washington. The match with North Idaho is set to begin at 5 p.m. PST.
