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A total of 52 Edmonds School District student athletes will be competing in the Washington state wrestling tournament Mat Classic XXIV at the Tacoma Dome this week.
The 3A and 4A boys and girls tournaments will take place on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 19-20. All four Edmonds School District schools fall into the 3A classification, determined by school enrollment. The 2A, 1A, 2B and 1B schools will wrestle on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 20-21.
The doors open at 8 a.m. Thursday and for the wrestlers that advance to day two, the matches on Friday will begin at 3:30 p.m. with the Championship matches scheduled to begin at 6:30 that night.
Here’s a preview of the local wrestling teams:
Girls Wrestling
Edmonds-Woodway
Ny Ny Pendleton- 100 lbs
Yaretzi Garduno- 115 lbs
Lily Frank- 125 lbs
Mia Cruz- 140 lbs
Caitlyn Gallagher- 145 lbs
Sara Ambachew- 155 lbs
Morgan Smith- 170 lbs
The Warriors return experience with four of this year’s seven state participants back at Mat Classic for a second consecutive year. Senior Ny Ny Pendleton won the District 1 championship Feb. 7 and is the ninth-seeded wrestler in the 100-lb. class. Senior Lily Frank finished in second place at the District tournament and placed seventh at state last year. Frank is ninth-seeded in her 125-lb. weight class. Senior Caitlyn Gallagher — also returning to state — and is the 10th seed in the 145-lb. class while junior Mia Cruz is back at state for a second consecutive season. Morgan Smith is the 15th-seeded wrestler in the 170-lb. classification and is the highest seeded freshman in any weight classifcation from the Edmonds School District.
Lynnwood
Zoe Degenstein – 115 lbs
Brianna Williams – 135 lbs
Venus Hernandez – 140 lbs
Elizabeth Noble – 145 lbs
Tala Samara – 145 lbs
Abriana Russell – 170 lbs
The Royals program has come a long way in a short period of time. A program that only had seven wrestlers turn out three years ago in their inauguaral season had 14 wrestlers this year with six of them qualifying for state.
Not only has senior Venus Hernandez managed to find time to be a three-sport athlete while also participating in band and jazz, she has also had a successful wrestling season and will be the 10th-seeded wrestler in the 3A 140-lb. classification. Junior Brianna Williams finished in second place last month in the 17-team Lady Knights Invitational at Mariner High School and will go into Mat Classic as the 11th seed in the 135-lb. classification. Senior Elizabeth Noble is the 11th seed in the 145-lb. classification.
Meadowdale
Kristine Ly – 130 lbs
Ayda Boualamallah – 135 lbs
Sofia Rodriguez Vazquez – 135 lbs
Rihanna Whitehead – 140 lbs
Serah Jawo – 245 lbs
The Mavericks are taking a school-record five wrestlers to state this season after four qualified last year. Meadowdale could continue to use state to build for the future as Sofia Rodriguez Vazquez and Serah Jawo are the only seniors that are heading to Tacoma, along with three underclassmen: junior Rihanna Whitehead, sophomore Ayda Boualamallah and freshman Kristine Ly.
>Mountlake Terrace
Cymmie Erickson – 100 lbs
Zero Jarvis – 110 lbs
Rosechelle Obare – 125 lbs
Sofie Hardi – 125 lbs
Sierra Swan – 155 lbs
Taylor Fears 190 lbs
The Hawks will be traveling down to the Tacoma Dome with a school-record six female wrestlers. Senior Rosechelle Obare enters the 125-lb. class as the 13th-seeded wrestler after a season that saw her win her weight classification at the Defend The Den Tournament in January at Cascade High School. Obare was then recognized as a WIAA Athlete of the Week in large part for winning the tournament but also because of her 3.9 GPA and character qualities. Senior Sierra Swan will also represent the Hawks. Swan is a three sports athlete (volleyball, wrestling and track and field) who is also on the MTHS cheer team. She is no stranger to state competition, having finished in fifth place as a junior in the javelin at the 2025 Track & Field State Championships.
Boys Wrestling
Edmonds-Woodway
Izzy Meyer – 106 lbs
Rhett Nickel – 106 lbs.
Alex Krumov – 113 lbs
Aidan Dou – 120 lbs
Aziret Bakytov – 126 lbs
Hollender Lynch – 132 lbs
Ben Wachira – 138 lbs
Roland Rapelje – 144 lbs
Dylan Rice – 150 lbs
Augie Hurtado – 165 lbs
Nathan Schlack – 175 lbs
Carmelo LaRocca – 190 lbs
Alex White – 215 lbs
Edson Belizaire – 285 lbs
Longtime Warriors Head Coach Brian Alfi is once again taking a large roster of talented athletes down to the Tacoma Dome with 14 wrestlers competing at the state tourmanent, including 10 that participated last year. The Warriors came in ninth overall as a team last year and three of their podium finishers are back. Hollender Lynch finished sixth at 120 lbs last year and heads into the 132-lb. classification this week as a fifth seed. Carmelo LaRocca finshed seventh in the 190-lb. class and this year enters the same weight category as the three seed. Dylan Rice brought home an eighth-place finish last year in the 144-lb. weight classification and steps up one weight class this season, entering the 150-lb. class as the fifth seed.
Other Warrior wrestlers heading into the week seeded in the to 10 are Izzy Meyer (sixth seed, 106 lbs), Aziret Bakytov (sixth seed, 126 lbs), Alex Krumov (eighth seed, 113 lbs) and Edison Belizaire (eight seed, 285 lbs).
Lynnwood
Eduardo Gonzalez – 113 lbs
Ashton Myers – 132 lbs
Jared Sum – 150 lbs
Hannibal Bendawi – 215 lbs
Senior Ashton Myers (132 lbs) and sophomore Eduardo Gonzalez (113 lbs) both head into their weight classifications as tenth seeds. Myers, the son of Lynnwood Head Coach Tedashi Myers, is heading down to the Tacoma Dome for the second consecutive year after qualifying last week with a second-place finish at the District tournament. Junior Jared Sum also had a strong showing at the District tournament, placing in third in the 150-lb. weight class.
Meadowdale
Hector Castro – 132 lbs
Chris Ramirez – 144 lbs
Leo Tassani – 150 lbs
Jamier Perry – 215 lbs
Jaxson Hulbert – 285 lbs
The Mavericks feature two District champions that both have legitimate opportunities on competing for state titles this week. Senior Chris Ramirez won the 144-lb. District title and was named the Wesco 3A South Wrestler of the Year. Ramirez heads to Tacoma as the three seed in his weight class. Junior Jamier Perry also won a District title at 215 lbs. and is the two-seed in his weight class. Perry will possibly have to get by top-seeded Mt. Spokane senior Brandan Haynes in order to win a title. Haynes missed last year’s Mat Classic with a torn ACL and will be hungry to win another title after winning the 215-lb. State title as a sophomore in 2024. Junior Jaxson Hulbert will also be looking to accomplish big things in the 285-lb. classification, where he enters the week as the 10th seed.
Mountlake Terrace
Ekansh Verma – 138 lbs
Titus Swett – 165 lbs
Owen Boswell – 190 lbs
Logan Armstrong – 215 lbs
Ryan Pineda – 285 lbs
The Mountlake Terrace Hawks football team completed the first undefeated regular season in school history in the fall and three of the players on that team enter this week as top-15 seeds in their state wrestling weight classifications. Ryan Pineda is a no. 13-seed in the 285-lb. classification while Logan Armstrong is a 14 seed at 215 lbs. and Owen Boswell is a 15 seed at 190 lbs. Pineda, the lone senior of the Hawks heading to state (the other four are all juniors) will be participating in Tacoma for the third straight year as will Boswell. Titus Swett was also a 2025 state participant and will compete in the 165-lb. classification.
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