By WESLEY REMMER
Staff writer
Bremerton senior Billy Richardson won the 112-pound weight class at the Feb. 9 West Central District Region III Wrestling Tournament in Yelm, synching a berth to the 3A state wrestling championships today at the Tacoma Dome.
Richardson defeated Jesse Borcherding of Olympic High School 2-1 in the championship match, winning the title. It was the third time the duo have wrestled head-to-head, with Richardson taking his second victory. All three matches have been decided by one or two points.
“He wrestled really well,” said assistant coach Ryan Nickels, who expects big things from Billy at the state event.
“He’s going to face some tough competition,” Nickels said. “His toughest match in the semifinals might be (Issac) Romero from Sunnyside.”
Romero defeated Billy early in the season at the SunDome Classic in Yakima, Nickels said.
Billy’s sister, Lauren Richardson, took the 103-pound weight class on the girls side and also will compete in the state championships.
“They both have the ability to be at the top of the podium,” Nickels said. “We’ll see, though, you never know what will happen at state.”
BHS swimmers strong at districts
The Bremerton boys swim team earned 29 points and 12th-place overall, finishing ahead of 10 teams, at the West Central District III swim meet at Highline High School in Burien on Feb. 8 and 9. Kennedy High School (227) took first and Capital High School (137) was second.
BHS junior JR Ramos captured first place in the 100-yard fly, swimming a 54.62-second time. The victory ensured Ramos a spot in yesterday’s state preliminary event, which determined the six qualifiers for today’s state championship meet at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
“JR should get a good seed for state,” coach Justin Adrian, who expected Ramos to place in the top six, said.
Though Ramos was the only Knight to qualify for state competition, Adrian said the entire team swam well at the district meet.
“The meet went great,” he said. “It went really well, we had some solid swims.”
Freshman Mark Woolnough placed 11th in the 500 freestyle, swimming a 5:35.11 time.
Woolnough joined senior Scott Burt, junior Alex Milligan and freshman Jordan Gier on the 200 medley relay team, swimming a 1:59.70 for 11th place.
Adrian complimented freshman David Pierce and sophomore Billy Davenport, who also put forth solid efforts at the district meet.
Results from Ramos’ state swim will be available next week.
Girls rebound against KSS
After dropping a close game against Olympic High School on Feb. 8, 55-51, the Bremerton girls basketball team cruised past Klahowya 57-36 on the road Tuesday night.
With the win, the Lady Knights improved to 8-11 overall and 7-8 in Olympic League play. Gina Ogazi had 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead the way for the Lady Knights, who hosted Sequim last night in the final home game of the season. Results were not available at press time.
