The Bonney Lake Panther wrestlers finished fourth among 20 squads from around western Washington that made up the West Central District tournament Friday and Saturday and will be sending six grapplers to the state tournament.

The state meet will be contested Friday and Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.

Included in the 20 visiting contingents welcomed into the Panther gymnasium for districts were the five top-ranked Class 3A teams in the state, which included Yelm, Enumclaw, Decatur, Bonney Lake and Kelso.

Enumclaw claimed first place with 206.5 points, followed by Yelm, 194, Decatur, 163.5, Bonney Lake, 137.5,  and Timberline, 137 points, which beat out Kelso’s Highlanders by two points.

At 113 pounds, Kelso’s Josh Newberg defeated Panther Colton Tracy 7-2.

At 120 pounds it always seems to shake down to Bonney Lake’s Andrew Cunningham and Enumclaw’s Tyke Reid and Saturday was no exception. This time around Reid prevailed, compiling a quick five-point advantage, then riding the storm out to hand the Panther senior a rare 8-2 setback.

Five weight classes later, Bonney Lake finally had another grappler going in a championship confrontation, as 160-pound Chili Sabin faced one of the top wrestlers in the state at his weight, Decatur’s Nick Karis. Just when this match looked like it might go into overtime, Sabin pinned Karis at the 5:55 mark.

Panther wrestling fans didn’t have long to wait before witnessing more drama, as 170-pounder Jake Leuders battled Decatur’s Rowland Gaydosh. The two wrestled to a 6-6 draw going into the third and final round, but it seemed as though Gaydosh might be the victor as he scored a single point midway through round number three. But Leuders managed a takedown with six seconds left to score an 8-7 decision.

Joining those four at the big show this weekend will be BLHS 145-pound junior Matt Yuste, who finished fourth in his weight division and senior 182-pound grappler Evan Dorsey, who plowed through the consolation company to come out third.