Orcas Wrestling’s ‘Fierce Five’ wraps up the club’s 16th season

Published 1:30 am Saturday, April 4, 2026

Submitted by the Orcas Wrestling Club.

Oh, what a season! For the “Fierce Five” and some practice guys, it was a season full of grit and determination, of accomplishments and frustrations, of lessons learned and limits tested, of overcoming adversity, and having fun while doing it. The members of the Orcas Island Wrestling Club had a season full of victories. Along with a good share of bout victories in the tournaments in which the young wrestlers competed were countless small victories that may not make the headlines, but are ever so important for the development of youth. Wrestling is a unique sport that puts the mental and physical limits to the ultimate test. It is a sport that requires a great amount of dedication, teamwork and support throughout practice to train and develop the proper moves and techniques to be successful in competition. While teammates, coaches, family and friends offer encouragement, advice and support, when the bout starts, the wrestler is one-on-one with their opponent, and may the most prepared or the toughest one win.

Orcas wrestlers found this to be their situation for many bouts in a total of 10 tournaments that members of the team attended. Throughout the season that started in October and ran through February, the young athletes practiced and conditioned and prepared. The pinnacle tournament of the season came with the Western Washington Kids Wrestling League Novice Championship tournament on Feb. 1. The “Fierce Five” were there to justify their hard work, and it showed in the results. Take note that in many of the previous novice tournaments, the brackets were often kept small so the wrestlers would be guaranteed more matches, and if a match ended quickly, they would often let them finish a round for more practice. At the novice championships, many of the brackets were larger, and it became a two-loss elimination from the tournament, and only the top three in a bracket placed. The following are the stats from that tournament.

Mariana Nuñez did not place in the 8U 70-pound class. She had a bye for her first round, lost her second-round match by getting pinned, had a bye for her third round and lost her fourth match by getting pinned. This was Mariana’s first season, and her progress throughout was great. She went from getting pinned often and early to having matches that turned into high-scoring, close matches.

Elliot Wooding placed second in the 8U 70-pound class. He won his first match by pinning his opponent, lost his second match with a 20-13 decision, won his third match with a pin, won his fourth match with a 17-3 major decision, then won his fifth, sixth and seventh matches all by pins. Wrestling seven matches in one day is a testament to the conditioning, hard work and dedication he put in for the season.

Caden Mcguire-King did not place in the 10U 71-pound class. He had a bye for his first round, lost his second-round match to a 17-9 major decision and lost his third-round match by getting pinned. It is worth mentioning that because of his birth date, he started wrestling in the 10U class when he was still 8, so he was often wrestling others who were older, and his efforts are to be commended.

David Nuñez placed first in the 10U 93-pound class. He won his first match with a pin, won his second match with a pin, won his third match with a 10-4 decision and won his fourth with a pin. His hard work and dedication have greatly contributed to his success on the mat.

Weston Wooding did not place in the 12U 108-pound class. He won his first match with a pin, lost his second match to a close 6-5 decision and lost his third match by getting pinned. He is the technician of the team, knowing the most moves and always anxious to learn new ones. Learning how to put them together and when to apply them should help increase his success in the future.

What a season for the Orcas Island Wrestling Club. Collectively in the 10 tournaments in which the athletes competed, the team earned 16 first-place, seven second-place, nine third-place, two fourth-place and one fifth-place medals. As the mats were rolled up and placed in storage, the coaches took time to reflect upon the season, the mental and physical growth of the athletes, the level of commitment that both the athletes and parents put into making such a season possible, the support and generosity of community members that allow the existence of the club to be stable, as well as the future actions and steps that should be taken to ensure that the club will continue to thrive and grow in the years to come, all while never losing sight of the purpose of youth sports.

The Orcas Island Wrestling Club maintains that the purpose of youth sports is to use athletics as a vehicle to guide and influence a young person into becoming an overall good and well-rounded person, to teach them how to manage and handle obstacles of life through teamwork and perseverance, overcome adversity and have fun doing it.