Serena Kuhn locks her arms around the neck and leg of Kiana Yoshimura at the Raymond tournament.

RAYMOND — Ilwaco’s Daniela Mendez took first place at the Doug Makaiwi Memorial Invitational wrestling tournament Saturday, Jan. 25. Tristan Walker and Serena Kuhn each placed second at the event, which drew 14 teams.

Mendez pinned Myranda Moran in 120-pound quarterfinals and Sophia Lumsden of Shorewood in semifinals, putting her in finals against Xin Ran Shi of Renton. Xin got Mendez by the arm, but Mendez got loose, bringing her arm up and quickly back down across Xin’s back in a very quick move.

“I wanted to try to do a standing home run, and I think I did it,” Mendez said. “She had my arm, and I got my arm out and used it to whip (down) on her.”

The quick action gave her unstoppable momentum, leading to a 51-second pin.

Kuhn pinned Emma Crow of Raymond in 235 quarterfinals, then had a hard-fought battle with Jenna Mellis in semis. The two were at an impasse until both went to the ground late in the first round, at which point Kuhn got the takedown to seize control. She had two more takedowns in the match before finishing it with a third-round pin.

The finals, against Shorewood’s Kiana Yoshimura (13-4 on the year), was an even tougher fight. Kuhn fought off a first-round pin attempt but trailed 11-2 at the end of two. But she rallied furiously, getting two near falls in the third round to cut the lead to 12-8. But as Yoshimura worked her way up after the second of these, time was running out. Kuhn, retaining control, tried to bring her to the ground again, but it did not happen.

The boys’ team was split for the weekend, with many top wrestlers in Spokane. But Walker stayed closer to home and got the second-place finish in 120, pinning two opponents before losing to Montesano’s Cole Ekerson (27-2) in 1:29 in finals.

Bryan Sparks tied for third in 285. He pinned Taylor Pilgrim of Kennedy Catholic (12-5) in quarterfinals before losing to Raymond’s Levi Woods in semis. Sparks faced Gideon Sseno of Shelton on the consolation bracket. Sseno tripped Sparks for the first take-down, but Sparks recovered with a reversal to tie it up. In round two, Sseno dragged Sparks toward him but tripped as he did so, causing Sparks to fall on him and pin him.

“It wasn’t quite how I wanted to do it,” Sparks said. “I wanted to pin him, but he kind of pinned himself.”

Sparks would have faced Pilgrim again for third place, but the tournament was running late and skipped some third-place matches.