Wrestlers hit the beach

Published 4:24 pm Tuesday, February 3, 2026

The largest local wrestling meet happens to be right across the river. The Beach Brawl at Ilwaco High School is one of the last tuneup events for wrestlers before district and state championships. Astoria, Seaside and Warrenton wrestling teams made the trip over the river on Saturday, Jan. 31 to a crowded Ilwaco High School gym to continue their march towards the postseason.

In total, 18 schools took part. Thirteen were from Washington and the other five were Oregon schools. The all-day event saw good performances from all three local high schools. The Astoria boys wrestlers were the standouts as they came home in second place. The 110 points for Astoria put them 57 behind the meet champions from Hillsboro. Though Seaside and Warrenton didn’t have as many wrestlers on the podium as usual, the two schools still had good representation.

Astoria boys crash podium

Two winners and six total wrestlers in the top four made Saturday one of Astoria’s strongest meets of the season.

Adrian Balli at 285 pounds and Beau Smith at 150 pounds carried the torch for the Fishermen as they were the winners. Balli took care of business as the top seed, winning 15-2 in the championship match. Smith survived a tough title match to win 5-1 over Hillsboro senior Izak Zavala.

Other top finishers for Astoria included M.J Brito (215 pounds), Jaron Mincey (144 pounds), Asher Hofseth (138 pounds) and Elijah Hofseth (113 pounds)

Brito entered as the sixth seed and made it to the championship match before falling short against number one seed Dylan Pascua. Brito would lose in the first round due to a fall. Mincey finished third after defeating Ethan Faulkner of Pe Ell, Wash. by fall in the second round. A. Hofseth finished fourth at 138 pounds and E. Hofseth was fourth at 113 pounds.

Irwin leads Warrenton home

The Warriors brought a smaller group of wrestlers to Ilwaco, but still had a good finish — in the top three.

Sean Irwin (190 pounds) and Rayce Sturgell (120 pounds) were the top four finishers for varsity, while Owen Johnson finished third place in the Junior varsity 144 pound division.

Irwin pitched a shutout on Saturday as he didn’t give up any points in his four matches. In total, Irwin defeated his four opponents by a score of 26-0 after dropping down to the 190 pound division this weekend. Sturgell fell to Dominic Ojeda of Hillsboro in the third place match by a score of 3-1.

The Warriors finished 11th as a team with a total score of 44.5 points.

Seaside wrestlers get a pair of seconds

The Seaside boys wrestling team brought home a pair of second-place finishes.

Juniors Brayden Cooley (157 pounds) and Henry Rollins (120 pounds) represented the Seagulls on Saturday night’s podium with a pair of runner-up finishes. Cooley lost to Woodland senior Marcellus Arevalo 16-4 in the championship match and Rollins was defeated by Elijah Miller of Life Christian Academy (WA) by a score of 13-4.

In total, the Seaside boys scored a total of 51 points to finish 10th as a team.