By Brenda Sexton

The Courier-Herald

When a couple teams pulled out of the Dec. 19 Tornado Team Tournament, White River High coach Joe Klein saw that as an opportunity to get more of his Hornets on the mat.

Some of White River’s junior varsity wrestlers found themselves on an All Stars team.

“Everyone got three or four matches that’s the important thing, getting in a varsity dual match tournament,” Klein said.

The Hornets finished the tournament in third place behind top-ranked Yelm and Class 2A Tumwater. The Hornets thumped Spanaway 63-9 and the Yelm JV 66-12 in the opening rounds of competition.

In Round 3, the Hornets found themselves tied with Tumwater going into the final match of the contest.

“We knew it was going to be close,” Klein said. “We would have liked to have beaten Tumwater.”

The Hornets were on the short side of a 37-32 final that paired Tumwater with Yelm for the title. Yelm won 57-24. White River topped Cedar Crest 42-27 for third place.

The All Stars lost a 74-6 opening round match with Yelm and a second-round contest 64-12 to Cedar Crest. The All Stars made it close with Olympia, dropping a 42-41 contest. The team won its final match of the day, topping Spanaway Lake, 42-37.

The Hornets are off to Eastmont High Cats Classic Saturday in Wenatchee, Wash., then return to South Puget Sound League 3A action Jan. 6 at Enumclaw and Jan. 7 at home with Bonney Lake.

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