ILWACO — Hundreds of high school wrestlers from across Oregon and Washington converged at Ilwaco High School for the annual 2026 Beach Brawl Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 31, featuring more than two dozen schools each looking to showcase their most-talented grapplers in an immersive, day-long tournament.
Beginning at 10 a.m. — and not concluding until Saturday evening — the annual event, hosted by Ilwaco High School was a smooth success. In large part, this was thanks to a supportive community of volunteers.
“Tonight, all of the Long Beach Peninsula put on the Annual Beach Brawl Wrestling Tournament,” said Ilwaco athletic director and varsity wrestling coach Chris Patana.
“Every tournament and wrestling meet that Ilwaco Wrestling goes to, (this tournament) is talked about by other coaches and officials as being one of the greatest that they are involved in. This year did not disappoint. Because of all of the support in the community of the Long Beach Peninsula, we were able to provide a great tournament that hosted 19 different boys teams and 21 girls wrestling teams.”
Vandermeulen, Arena
Hillsboro High School (Oregon) won both of the boys’ and girls tournaments, with Castle Rock finishing second in the girls’ tournament and Astoria taking second in the boys tournament. The winner took home buoys painted and labeled as first place to make it more beach related for the team trophies.
The Ilwaco Boys team took ninth place, which Patana considered “pretty good,” considering they had only eight boys wrestlers competing.
Among the top finishers for Ilwaco was sophomore Colten Vandermeulen, who pinned his first three opponents to reach the championship, ultimately finishing second in the 126-pound class. Most notably, Vandermeulen entered the tournament as a #15-seed and knocked the off the #2-seed (Adna’s Cash Laufenberg) ‘right off the bat’ in the first round.
Ilwaco 285-pound sophomore Sisto Arena took third place. Naselle’s Jason Gardner took thirrd in the 138-pound bracket.
“There are a lot of great barriers broken today by our wrestlers,” Patana said. “Colten (Vandermeulen) was able to beat the Adna 126-pound Cash Laufenberg, which will create an interesting dynamic at the District 4 Tournament next week at Winlock.”
Wise takes 2nd for Ilwaco
The Ilwaco Girls team also took 9th place on the day, facing tough competition from around the region and beyond.
“This team faced a lot of challenges from many competitors across both Washington and Oregon schools,” Patana said.
Ilwaco junior Ophelia Wise finished second place, after ‘pinning her way to the championship match,’ Patana said. Both Aila Soule and Dalilah Leibham fell one match short of the third/fourth place match. The Ilwaco girls’ team will have two weeks to prepare for their District 4 tournament, hosted in Montesano on Feb. 14.
“There is a lot of promise in our girls at Ilwaco with all remaining girls returning next year,” Patana said.
“We have had some health issues among our girls this season but will look to finish strong.”
Army of volunteers/sponsors
Hosting hundreds of wrestlers while holding four matches simultaneously for several hours was made possible by a dedicated group of community volunteers and businesses.
“There are many people to thank for the success of this tournament,” Patana said.
“I will start by thanking each of the coaches on staff, Alec Bell, Landin Frank, Jerry Matzen, Mikey Rodda and Serena Kuhn. Without them, I would not be able to take the step back and organize as well as perform my other duties that I serve in the district including athletic director and facilities director. They come in every day and pour every second of time into these students and this program. Each of them are Ilwaco alumni and wrestled for our program. Most of them wrestled under the expert tutelage of coaching legend Kevin McNulty and a couple of them finished out wrestling under 2025 2B Coach of the Year Larry Kemmer as well as teaming up with Kemmer in their early years as assistant coaches. This room is full of experience and commitment to the sport of wrestling and Ilwaco pride.
“I want to thank everyone who helped us put on the tournament in every way possible. The Ilwaco High School principal worked her tail off in organizing many of the ‘behind the scene’ areas that really make this tournament so great. She organized the Hospitality Room for coaches, officials and tournament help including getting donations of food, services and room support. She also organized the concessions stand that provided profits that will go toward the IHS Wrestling ASB account.
“Because of her countless hours of dedication, our wrestling program will be able to participate in summer camps and participate in tournaments this summer and in the future. We also had Molly Bond who organized the tournament sponsors and the table help that ran the score clocks, towel tappers and bout runners. This is also key to our success as well as fundraising for summer camps and future tournaments. She was moving from mat to mat and room to room to make sure that everything was covered throughout the entire day.
“Heather Soule and Helen Bell both organized and ran the hospitality room all day long. They both were so valuable in their knowledge and experience in keeping everything organized and keeping all of the coaches and officials more than happy when they came in the area that most people choose to come to this tournament! There are so many people to thank that the list is longer than the article has room it seems. Our IHS dean of students, Jackie Hofer, held down the gate and directed people as they entered the building, literally all day long.
“I do want to recognize everyone that sponsored or donated to our wrestling program, tournament and Hospitality Room. In the Concession stand we had Sheena Burke, Chelsea Eisbrenner and Yael Crawford, Abby Kerwin and Jojo Fleming. In the hospitality room we had Heather Soule, Helen Bell, Kelly Jacobsen, Heather Warrick, Jay McCafferty, Tina McGuire and Marissa Taylor as well as a large group of students throughout the day. On the mats we had Molly Bond, Waylon, Mistie and Jay McCafferty, Marcus Lynch, Todd Pierce, Matt McKinstry, C.J. Hawkinson, Kara Powell, Liylla Carlile, Adam Wilson, Caesar Garcia, Xavier Cisneros, Cameron Crete, Dakota Duffy, Beau and Brayden Bond, Lilly Matzen, Nora Soule, Eli Marteeny, Sofia Guzman, Kaleb Shaw, Zach Graff, Jeff Hightower, Colt and Connor Graff, as well as many others throughout the day including additional Naselle wrestlers throughout the tournament.
“A huge shoutout and thank you to the cheer coaches, Carole Chase and Barbara Patana, for showing up and supporting our tournament. Our amazing music/band/performing arts Director Rachel Lake for bringing our incredible Mariachi Band to play the National Anthem to start the event at 10 a.m. just set the tone for our athletes.”
Patana also credited the following sponsors for our event: Active Enterprises, FV Beachcomber, Heather Soule, Kelly Dru, Thygesen Family, FV Redeemer, Connections CFO, Taft Plumbing, KJ Tree Service, EZ Propane, Steve Gunnerson, Louann Lane, Matt McKinstry, Ford Electric, Yasunaka Family, Chelsea Eisbrenner, Marcus Lynch, Angela Lynch, Marissa Schaefer and Seafood Enterprises of Alaska, who all sponsored weight classes, with all proceeds going to help fund camps and tournaments for IHS wrestlers.
“We had so many consumables for our Hospitality Room donated by the following groups, at the top of the list will be TreFin for donating Tuna Loins and cooking 100 crab that were donated from Jerry Matzen and Jay Vaughn,” Patana said.
“This was locally caught and kept in live-wells until the night before the tournament when TreFin worked their tails off to have them ready to go this morning so we could provide fresh crab for all of the coaches and officials.” Food and drink donations were made by Mike Mahoney, Carole Chase, Todd Pierce, Tina McGuire, Chelain Echols, Yael Crawford, Heather Soule, Anna Taft, Sheena Burke, Michelle Binion, Dyllan’s Cottage Bakery, Heidi Crete, Barb Patana, Marina Brook, Sonya Borton, Chelsea Eisbrenner, Steve Gunnerson, Jay Vaughn, Jerry Matzen, Drop Anchor, Teri Plato, James Gaerlen, Irene Pelas, Bonnie Tucker, TreFin and Molly Bond.
“I am grateful for all of our community for coming together to help us provide this special and annual event at Ilwaco High School,” Patana concluded.