Yelm’s Sam Blank pins her way to Iron Sharpens Iron 135-pound championship

Tornados coach Hawk says weight brackets featured ‘intense’ competition

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Yelm High School senior Samantha Blank earned yet another tournament championship victory on Saturday, Jan. 18, as she pinned her way to an Iron Sharpens Iron tournament 135-pound championship.

She pinned Orting’s Savannah Crouch in 1 minute, 3 seconds, Spanaway Lake’s Anaira Canevari in 1:51, Puyallup’s Edrienne Merritt in 1:07 and Orting’s Jayden Crouch in 1:40 to win the 135-pound Iron Sharpens Iron championship.

“We had some really tough full squads, and some of the girls really got into some battles,” coach Ben Hawk said. “Mariah (Gibson, 155 pounds) and Olivia (Kaiser, 125 pounds) actually wrestled through and were the consolation champions. Sam walked through her bracket again. She pinned every girl she wrestled in her weight class in this tournament.”

Hawk added that 19 different high school programs, including Yelm, attended the Iron Sharpens Iron tournament. The teams in attendance at Spanaway Lake’s tournament included 3A and 4A “powerhouse” teams, Hawk said.

“Our girls are unshakable. We had some girls really press hard all week and train hard for this tournament. We’re just continuing to put these girls in position to win, and we’re going to keep chopping this tree down,” Hawk said. “Nothing I present to them is too big of a challenge. I’ve really turned up the tempo at practice, and when other competitors are going to start wilting, our girls are going to keep pressing forward. I’m excited to see how this hard work pays off.

“We had a bunch of girls win one or two matches, but they were all tight matches. This tournament featured all high-end competition,” Hawk continued. “There were state placers and state level wrestlers in every weight class. Our girls seemed to find every single one of them.”

Up next, Yelm High School’s girls wrestling team will travel to Curtis High School on Thursday, Jan. 23, to face off against the Vikings and South Kitsap High School.

Hawk said the Tornados got a good preview of what to expect from South Kitsap during the Iron Sharpens Iron tournament.



Hawk said he anticipates an action-packed dual Thursday and that the matches between Yelm and South Kitsap that have already transpired have been “fireworks.”

“It got a little chippy in some of those matches against South Kitsap, so it will be fun to go into their home gym and wrestle them,” Hawk said.

Following the three-way dual against South Kitsap and Curtis, the Tornados will wrestle against over 30 schools at Auburn Mountainview High School in yet another big tournament.

Hawk believes these tough tournaments will prepare his team for the grueling schedule of postseason wrestling.

“That entire Auburn and Kent area has a bunch of girls that have wrestled from the junior leagues all the way through. Auburn is a real leader in the girls wrestling push, so I expect to see a bunch of tough girls,” Hawk said. “We saw Madisyn Erickson wrestled an Auburn girl in the state championship last year, and there’s a whole family of girls wrestlers as well. I expect some tough competition up there.”

The Tornados will also celebrate its seniors Friday, Jan. 31, prior to a three-way dual against Olympia High School and Eatonville High School. Then, Hawk and the Tornados will turn their focus toward the postseason.

“I’d like to qualify as many girls as we can through to the state tournament. The top seven from our league qualify for the state tournament, and we’ll get two wrestlers for every weight,” Hawk said. “I’m hoping to put as many girls into the league tournament and qualify as many girls into the state tournament and try to utilize those last two weeks of mat time to get better at what strategies we’ve been working on all season.”