Conk News

2-24-12

Herrick takes 3rd; Cassidy is State Champ!

Kentwood brought 3 boys and 1 girl to the Tacoma Dome, winning a total of 11 matches in the process. Matt Herrick (220) led the way for the Kentwood boys, winning his 1st match by pin then losing in the quarterfinals in triple overtime.  Matt then stormed back, notching 3 more pins and an injury default to finish in 3rd place.  Matt earned his 3rd place in a lot different way than his older brother Nathan (3rd place in 2009), basically pinning his way through while Nathan won with last second reversals and takedowns.  Dalton Meyers (126) was one match away from placing at the toughest weight in the entire state, losing his last match in the last few seconds.  Jamiel Jackson (132) fought through some sickness to also come within one match of placing.  In the girls bracket, Cassidy Meyers became Kentwood's 3rd girls' state champion with a 4-1 win in the finals over her Burlington Edison opponent.  Cassidy got out of the gates quickly with a tech fall in her 1st round, and then a pin in the quarters.  She then squeaked by her semifinal match to earn her way into the finals, where she took home the gold!  Cassidy managed to take 24th place as a team- all by herself!  Keep tuned to the announcements to find out the date and time of our wrestling banquet.  Also, we are going to need lots of help (wrestler and parent hopefully!) for the middle school tournament that we are running on Saturday, March 31st.  We will have a sign-up sheet at the banquet, and if there is anything that you can volunteer for, please email Coach Sroka at Kenneth.Sroka@kent.k12.wa.us. 

2-13-12

4 to State + 2 alternates; Ohashi is Regional Champ

Kentwood will bring 4 wrestlers to state for this upcoming weekend, and two alternates who will be ready to step in if the situation presents itself.  Johnny Ohashi leads the crew of 4 to state, as he avenged his league finals loss to Seth Mizoguchi from Auburn by beating him 10-6 in the Regional finals to win the Regional Championship.  Matthew Herrick also made it to state, making the finals of the Regional Tournament to improve his season record to 26-4.  Dalton Meyers had an interesting Regional tournament, falling behind 8-1 in his first match before throwing his opponent to his back and pinning him.  He then lost an overtime match match to returning state placer Jesse Vaughan of Tahoma, and later turned the tables on Auburn's Tyson Gaillac, who had beaten Dalton twice this year.  Jamiel Jackson used his usual edge of your seat antics to put him into the state tournament by taking 4th.  Conor Berlin and Ray Paz both took 5th place, giving them an opportunity to make state as alternates.  In the girls' tournament at Emerald Ridge, Cassidy Meyers was the only girl to make it out, but did so in dramatic fashion, pinning her way through the tournament.  We have practice early all week, and practice at the Tacoma Dome on Thursday.  Come cheer our guys and girl on!  Information about the tournament (including brackets, ticket prices, etc) are available on the WIAA site.

1-30-12

Practice schedule changed for this week; SPSL Tournament Info

The practice schedule has changed for the first three days of the week.  The new schedule is as follows: Monday from 3-5 pm, Tuesday from 5-7 pm, and Wednesday from 3-5 pm (Thursday will still be from 3-5 pm).  The SPSL North League Tournament starts on Friday at Kent Meridian HS, and it determines who will advance to Regionals the following week.  Our top two wrestlers at each weight will represent Kentwood, and these wrestlers will be travelling to KM by bus on Friday (there will be no bus home or on Saturday).  Other information about the SPSL Tournament can be found here, including start times (4:30 pm on Friday) and admission costs.

1-20-2012

Jaguar Invite (1/21) officially cancelled

Tomorrow's Varsity and JV tournaments that were to be held at Emerald Ridge have been officially cancelled.  Stay tuned for details about the possibility of practice tomorrow.

1-4-2012

Match changed to Thursday, 1/5

The double dual with Thomas Jefferson and Mt. Rainier at TJHS has been changed to Thursday, January 5th.  Varsity and JV wrestling starts at 5 pm, so be there early! Practice is after school at 3 pm today (Wednesday). 

12-16-2011

Updates: Pictures Tonight, No Practice Saturday, Dual on 12/22

Please remember that pictures are tonight, so make sure to bring all of your gear and picture forms tonight to late practice.  Also, practice has been cancelled for tomorrow morning. And finally, we have a dual against Enumclaw and Sumner here at Kentwood next Thursday, December 22nd.  Come see our young team battle one of the best teams of the last decade, Enumclaw, winner of 3 of the past 4 3A state championships (they took 2nd the other year).  Also, Kentwood will face off against an up and coming Sumner team, that is already making waves in the SPSL 3A.  Because we are hosting, we will need ALL wrestlers and managers there on Thursday!  The match will start at 5 pm, but we need all wrestlers there by 3 pm to set up.

12-13-2011

KW places 3rd at "Battle"; Berlin takes home 1st title

The Kentwood Wrestling team traveled north to Blaine, WA (which is just a few miles from the Canadian border) to compete in the Battle at the Border tournament.  Despite their youth, the Conks managed to take third place in this 21 team tourney.  Freshman Conor Berlin stole the show, taking home a championship in his first tournament as a Conqueror.  He even ended up pinning his opponent (who had pinned his way through the tournament until Conor) in the finals to finish off his spectacular tournament.  You can see Conor's final match on YouTube by clicking this link or the picture to the right. Kentwood had 8 placers in all, going a combined 47-28 as a team.  Other placers were: Walker Meyers (106, 4th), Dalton Meyers (126, 3rd), Logan Bearss (145, 3rd), Jonathan Ohashi (160, 5th), Josh Boekelman (182, 5th), Lucas Kelley (182, 6th- suffered an injury in the semis), and Ray Paz (220, 3rd).

12-8-2011

Kentwood outduels Auburn Riverside 51-23

The Conqueror wrestling team opened up their league season with a 51-23 victory over Auburn Riverside.  With only 5 upperclassmen in the lineup, the Conks managed to win 10 of the 14 matches, with several pins along the way.  The Conks got victories from the following wrestlers: Walker Meyers (106, pin), Conor Berlin (113, pin), Abriel Rodriguez (120, decision), Dalton Meyers (126, pin), Logan Bearss (145, maj. decision), Joey Alonzo (152, decision), Johnathan Ohashi (160, pin), Josh Boekelman (182, pin), Lucas Kelley (195, pin), and Ray Paz (220, pin).  The freshman class made their presence felt, bringing 4 victories to the table.  The Varsity travels north to Blaine for the Battle at the Border tournament this weekend, while the JV will be at the Franklin Pierce JV Tournament on Saturday. 

12-5-2011

KW 2nd at TD Tourney; Loses 1st Dual; 1st at JV Tourney

The Kentwood Conqueror Wrestling Team sent out a young lineup to the Beamer Takedown Tournament, but still managed to beat both Auburn Mountainview and Curtis before falling to champion Decatur in the finals.  The following day the team traveled to Rogers High School in Puyallup, and sent another young team out to wrestle the perennial SPSL South power.  Despite a young team, the Conks managed to nearly split the matches, winning 6 and losing 8 for a final score of 45-30.  It was a great learning experience for the team, who took a lot more out of the match than just wins and losses.  The JV had 5 champions (Abriel Rodriguez, Joey Alonzo, David Park, Makani Mafua, and Visa Thach) on their way to more than 300 team points and a team championship at the Emerald Ridge JV Tournament.  All wrestlers that competed had at least one win, which bodes well for our program's future.  Click the RESULTS page to see dual results and the brackets for the JV tournament.

11-23-2011

Online Gear Order- Now Available OVER!

Click the logo to the right to take you to our online ordering site.  Orders are due by next Friday, December 2nd.  There are short sleeve t-shirts and long sleeve t-shirts (in both black, forest green, and short sleeve in dark heather), hooded and crewneck sweatshirts (black), sweatpants (black), and shorts (kelly green) available for purchase (all are in black besides the t-shirts).  After next Friday, the orders will all go into production and will be shipped here all at the same time.  We want to get these ordered for the quickest possible turnaround!

11-16-2011

Wrestling Season is Here!

Be sure to check out our schedule page, which has both our practice and competition schedule, along with directions to every meet/tournament for the year.  Our roster will be updated soon on our Wrestlers page.  Our statistics and record board have both been updated on our Stats/Records page.  There are new Alumni on our Alumni page, and last year's highlight film has been added to our Highlight Videos page.  Enjoy!

<Click to view articles from the 2005-2011 seasons in our archive>