Choosing the best of West Sound wrestling after a historic 2022-23 season

Every five years or so, I take something away from Mat Classic that I didn't have when I arrived at the Tacoma Dome: a nasty head cold.

Sure, I guess it's impossible to know if the cold that I'm currently dealing with — one that's lasted well over a week now — originated at the state wrestling tournament, but I do know this: I rarely get the type of full-blown cold that keeps me up at night because of incessant coughing. The last time I remember getting a cold like this, it was right after Mat Classic in 2018 and I spent three days up at Mount Baker laid up in bed instead of skiing.

With the hope that full health and restful nights return in the near future, it must be said that last month's Mat Classic was one for the ages in terms of the medal haul for West Sound wrestlers. Seeing seven locals make the finals and have all seven pull off decisive victories, it was a tournament I'll never forget and leads me to my next point ...

Wrestlers of the year: One, two, three, four?

One difficult task for me, I'll admit, was choosing this year's Kitsap Sun wrestler of the year award. There were honestly four top candidates, four wrestlers that Washington Wrestling Report ranked as the top grapplers in their respective weight classes this season, among all classifications: South Kitsap 138-pound senior Mitchell Neiner (48-0), Bremerton 170-pound senior Thor Michaelson (44-1) and 182-pound junior Lars Michaelson (45-2), and North Kitsap 220-pound senior Sofian Hammou (32-0).

All four won their second state titles. All four went undefeated against in-state opponents. All four made the "Untouchables" list the Tacoma News Tribune selects each February, which is a collection of the state's most unbeatable wrestlers. If you make this list, history shows you win a state title 99% of the time.

Would I be crazy to pick Neiner, Hammou and the Michaelesons all as wrestlers of the year? Heck with it, let's get crazy. Since I'm a one-person sports department, I can make the rules.

Neiner, who'll wrestle for Cal Baptist after graduation, you get a co-wrestler of the year award. You helped South Kitsap place second as a team in the 4A tournament. Stanford-bound Thor Michaelson, you get a co-wrestler of the year award. You came oh-so-close to being a three-time state champion, placing second as a freshman to three-timer Kyler Romero of Toppenish. Lars Michaelson and Sofian Hammou, who shared co-wrestler of the year honor in 2022, you each get a piece of the award again.

The rest of the Great Eight team

With the above four names leading the Kitsap Sun's Great Eight wrestling team, three other spots go to West Sound's three other state champions: South Kitsap senior 182-pounder Phillip Chobot (26-2), South Kitsap senior Monica Kaiser, who finished 37-3 and won the 145-pound bracket in the girls 4A/3A tournament, and Olympic senior Ali Templeton, who went 35-4 and captured the 120-pound title in the girls 2A/1A/B tournament.

The eighth member of the team is South Kitsap junior Stone Hartford, who finished third in 4A at 132 pounds. A state champion from 2022, Hartford finished 45-4 this winter.

Noting changes made to Mat Classic

There were a couple noticeable changes at Mat Classic this year — and I'm not talking about the fact that security guards were instructed to perform bag checks/wand metal detector sweeps of visiting fans and media personnel.

In terms of mat layout, things were different from previous years as the 4A and 2A mats were swapped (same with the 3A and 1A mats) during the non-championship round portions of the tournament. Generally, fans of 2A and 1A wrestlers have better seating availability at the Tacoma Dome, so it appears organizers wanted to rotate the competition areas a bit to allow 4A and 1A spectators a more prime viewing experience. We'll see if things swap back in 2024.

Another change this year, of course, was the addition of a second girls tournament, with the 4A and 3A wrestlers being split up from 2A/1A/B wrestlers. It not only doubled the amount of girls champions, but also leaves room for expansion in future years (the 4A/3A tournament had 20 qualifiers competing in a 32-wrestler bracket, while the 2A/1A/B tournament had 12 qualifiers competing in a 16-wrestler bracket).

I continued to hear rumors that the state wrestling tournament might one day require more than one site, especially if girls wrestling continues to grow in participation. As a reporter, it'd be a bummer not to be able to cover everything in one location, so hopefully other options could be considered, such as adding a third day of competition.

Hopefully my immune system could take it!Jeff Graham covers high school sports for the Kitsap Sun. Reach him at jgraham@kitsapsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Highlights from the 2022-23 high school wrestling season in West Sound