Bellevue Christian’s DeAunte Epp took fifth and Newport’s Keir Lopez placed sixth in their respective weight classes at the 1A and 4A state tournaments on Feb. 22 at the Tacoma Dome.

Epp defeated Elijah Volk of Seton Catholic on a fall at 1:14 to place fifth at 145 pounds in 1A. He began his Mat Classic XXXII trek with a loss to Rick Cisneros of Granger (fall 4:39) and then reeled off three straight wins over Luiz Perez of Forks (fall 3:42), Malaki Eaton of Hoquiam (5-4) and Kaleb Hernandez of Royal (10-6) before losing to Ty Ekerson of Montesano (fall 2:37).

Lopez went 3-3 in the 195-pound division in 4A at state with victories over Chris Jennings of Graham-Kapowsin (10-8), Ben Davis of Monroe (fall 2:31) and Jake Davis of Ferris (4-3). He lost to Christian Pedro of Auburn Riverside (fall 1:17), Jacob Kesling of Curtis (5-2) and to Max Prazer of Eastmont (7-2) for fifth and sixth.

Newport’s Keir Lopez and his coaches celebrate his pin of Ben Davis of Monroe at Mat Classic XXXII. Photo courtesy of Patrick Krohn