W.F. West’s Scalici caps off prep career with 157-pound state title at Mat Classic

TACOMA — He envisioned this every day for three years.

When Race Scalici went to bed at night, a state championship surrounded his thoughts. During the school day at W.F. West High School, daydreams of Mat Classic glory were ever present.

He thought about every moment a state champion can possibly experience, from the blaring “Enter Sandman” and light show during the champions’ parade, to the introductory biography sheets read by the announcer in the Tacoma Dome during the matches, to the pressure on the mat.

Scalici manifested it all, and in his senior season at W.F. West, he made all of his dreams come true. 

Scalici earned the revered and prized title of state champion in the boys 2A 157-pound bracket at Mat Classic XXXVII Saturday night. He became the fourth boys wrestling state champion from W.F. West in the last four tournaments, and he celebrated by tossing his coach Brandon Barnes to the mat following the victory by decision over Fife’s Joseph Yefimchuk in the finals.

“I’ve been picturing myself here for the past three years, ever since I came to state my freshman year. It’s crazy to actually be in that environment,” Scalici said. “My emotions are through the roof.”

Scalici finished his senior year with a 41-2 record, but he showed resilience in adversity that a grappler with that kind of record may not often see. In the second round on day one of the tournament, Scalici got put on his back against North Kitsap’s Wyatt Sloman and nearly lost the match. After trailing 8-6 through the first two periods, he cruised with a pair of takedowns to win by decision 13-10.

“I’ve got grit. I’ve got heart. I’ve been telling myself all year that if stuff goes south, I have the ability to come back and go get it,” Scalici said. “I strongly believe that I’m the best in neutral and the best on my feet in the entire state of Washington. I’m good with adversity. I love it.”

He had no problems advancing to the semifinals, where he had never been before. He pinned Sehome’s Colin McGiverin in less than two minutes, and in the semifinals, Scalici only needed two takedowns to defeat Toppenish’s Ruben Rios.

Scoring didn’t come easily or quickly out of the gate for either wrestler in the finals. Both wrestlers were upright, figuring out the other’s moves and pace before taking more aggressive shots in the second. Scalici tallied the first point with an escape to start the second, and Yefimchuk took brief control of Scalici’s left leg before the two grapplers went out of bounds late in the second period. 

Scalici started the third on top, and after Yefimchuk tied the match at 1-1 with an escape, Scalici secured a hard-earned takedown 24 seconds later to take the lead. Yefimchuk managed to take control of Scalici’s right leg and reversed him to pull within a point, but Yefimchuk immediately let Scalici escape to make it 5-3 Scalici, a point that ended up mattering in the end. 

Late in the third, however, Scalici had his left leg twisted as he was brought to the mat by Yefimchuk, who looked to the ref for a takedown. Scalici stayed on the mat holding his left knee as injury time began. Once he got back up, he played defense for the final 30 seconds to keep his lead and secure his state title.

“It’s due to the work that I’ve been putting in, especially over this last year. I’ve been driving an hour and a half to one of the best clubs in Washington state in Mat Demon Wrestling Club, and I’ve been working out every single day,” Scalici said. “I want to shout out my dad and my mom for pushing me every single day. My dad is my strength and conditioning coach, and he’s always believed in me. He put this faith into me.”

Elsewhere in the 2A ranks, Centralia, W.F. West and Black Hills each had a girl wrestler place second. W.F. West sophomore Lucy Hornby took second at 115 pounds, Centralia junior Ramona Reinitz finished as the 120-pound runner-up, and Black Hills senior Isabella Chenard capped off her prep career with a second-place medal at 190 pounds.

The Reinitz sisters — Ramona and Eva — each finished in the top three for the second straight season, as Eva took second last year and third this year, while Ramona earned third in 2025 and second in 2026.

Ramona Reinitz’s path to the state finals was far from linear. In the Braided 64 Kelso Girls’ Invite tournament last January, weeks before the Mat Classic, she ruptured one ligament in her elbow and partially tore another. She still competed at the state tournament and placed third, and she had surgery to repair the injuries in September.

Reinitz wasn’t supposed to be cleared to wrestle until January, but she got clearance in November instead and wrestled free of pain and worry throughout the season. However, Mat Classic XXXVII had some other plans. In the semifinals against W.F. West’s Eden Hornby, Reinitz hurt her left knee and struggled to walk without pain for the remainder of the match, which she still won in a 12-3 major decision. It wasn’t easy to finish the match, but Reinitz’s determination soared to the end.

“I wanted to make my parents proud and make my coaches and my friends proud,” Reinitz said.

She was full of energy early in the finals against Washougal’s returning state champion Victoria Nicacio, quickly pulling her opponent to the mat but without control before they went out of bounds. Reinitz then scored the first four points, landing an impressive takedown midway through the first period. She took Nicacio to the mat with ease in the first period multiple times, but the match flipped in the second period in favor of Nicacio and it never flipped back. 

Reinitz scored the first point due to a penalty for a potentially dangerous act, but over the course of the rest of the period and first minute of the third period, Nicasio scored 14 unanswered points with three nearfalls, including a five-pointer, and a takedown. Nicasio won by major decision 18-6.

“As of right now, it sucks. It’ll definitely come back to me later that I’m very grateful to even be wrestling here right now since having surgery,” Reinitz said. “It feels pretty good but also really sucks at the same time. I’m just a junior. I still have next year.”

In the girls 2A 115-pound bracket, Lucy Hornby improved from her fourth-place finish as a freshman in 2025, taking second in 2026 as a sophomore. She won her first three matches via pin, highlighted by an impressive win over 36-3 Savannah Taylor of Rogers (Spokane) in the semifinals — a round that was especially meaningful for Hornby.

“Last year, I got fourth, and it was a difficult pill to swallow because I put so much of my heart into my semis match last year and it didn’t turn out the way I expected,” Hornby said. “It slipped through my fingers in the last few seconds. This year, I raised the bar for myself, and I really wanted to prove that I had shown growth and that I could achieve bigger things. Before my semis match this year, I made a decision and I told myself that there’s no other option for me except to win.”

In the finals, one takedown for Grandview’s Heidy Larios Verduzco was all it took to win the state championship, as Hornby lost a 3-1 decision. But Hornby was satisfied with her runner-up finish and accomplished her goal of growth.

“It’s such an amazing feeling to be in the finals and wrestle with the best and hold my own. I’m sad that I didn’t win my final match, but I’m so proud that I made it there and showed growth,” she said. “How blessed am I to be sad that I got second at state? It opens up so many more doors and windows of opportunity.”

Chenard, the third seed in the girls 2A 190-pound division, made her way to the finals by pinning her first two opponents and winning a high-scoring 14-10 decision in the semifinals. Chenard scored nine points in the third period alone to come from behind and punch her ticket to the finals. But the final match didn’t go her way, as Clover Park’s Ashley Rodriguez pinned her in 23 seconds. 

Black Hills junior Madeline Payne placed fourth in the 155-pound bracket to earn her second-straight state medal.  The Wolves girls finished 10th at state with 82.5 points.

Along with the Reinitz girls for Centralia, junior Jayden Krogness also added a trip to the podium to her prep resume as she placed fourth at 135 pounds, winning four matches over the weekend.  The Centralia girls finished seventh with 96.5 points

The W.F. West girls were the biggest winners of the night, finishing third in the girls 2A team scoring with 141.5 points. Eden Hornby placed third in the 120-pound bracket after taking fourth last year. After falling to Ramona Reinitz in the semifinals, she pinned teammate Berkeley Varick in the consolation semis and pinned Toppenish’s Linsey Ortega in just over two minutes in the third-place match.

Varick earned fifth place in her final state tournament trip, and in her first year of wrestling, sophomore Lilly Gage secured a 145-pound fourth-place medal.

For the boys, W.F. West finished eighth with 98.5 points, led by Scalici. Senior Graysen Serl capped off his career with a third-place medal at 175 pounds and a 41-1 record in his senior campaign.

His semifinal match against Orting’s Amos Voss was certainly one of the wildest matches of the entire tournament. Serl’s only points in regulation came from three penalties and two escapes, with the third penalty on Voss tying the match at 5-5 and sending it to overtime. 

No one scored in the first sudden-death overtime period, and Serl scored four points in the second overtime by two more Voss penalties and an escape, but Voss matched him in the third overtime with an escape and a takedown. However, late in the third overtime, Serl appeared to take an 11-9 lead, but after a referee conference, they waved it off, sending the match to double overtime and the crowd into a frenzy. Voss controlled the final frame and earned the final point to win 10-9 and hand Serl his first and only loss of the season.

Serl bounced back with a pin in the third-place match over West Valley’s Mason Matteson. He finishes his career with three state medals, each year higher than the previous.

Freshman Colton Withrow shined in his first Mat Classic, earning five victories to place fifth in the 113-pound bracket. Senior Lewis Allen took eighth at 144 pounds for his first state medal.

Three Centralia boys collected a state medal, as junior Benito Escalera-Zamudio earned fifth at 126 pounds, senior Hunter Van Der Hoeff took sixth at 132 pounds, and senior Adrian Hernandez Ceja finished his prep career by winning seventh at 106.

Tumwater junior Gavin Kaikkonen placed seventh at 165 pounds, and Black Hills senior Cash Boos, 126 pounds, finished third for the second straight Mat Classic. 

“I didn’t get any worse in the offseason, but I also didn’t achieve my goals,” Boos said after winning his third-place match by a pin in the third period. “I wanted to win it all, but third was the next best thing for me.”