Tahoma had the numbers – 15 wrestlers – in the first round. Mead had the storming success.

The Panthers won eight of their 11 first-round matches while Tahoma went 8-7.

Mead’s only real blemish came when Matthew Petrini, a top seed, was upended by Union’s Cody Hershel, 7-4, in the 113 class.

In 3A, Yelm claimed wins in seven of eight classes – including Dillon and Darren Harris – while defending champion Enumclaw went 5-4.

Four-time defending 2A champion Deer Park started off strong with eight wins in nine starts in the first round – including an upset victory by Cody Dehn, who took out Steilacoom’s Luke Shell, a regional champion, 2-1 in three overtimes at 126.

Centralia kept pace with Deer Park by going 8-2.

Three-time reigning 1A champion Orting brought 17 wrestlers to the state meet, but went 7-10 in the first round.

One of those winners is Drew Templeman, who throttled Kalama’s Casey Heaton by pin in 2:46 in the 126 class.

The round’s quickest pin was in the girls tournament. Mabton’s Jesenia Meza win in 25 seconds at 124.

Here is a link to the Mat Classic XXIV brackets.

Here’s a link to our Mat Classic XXIV preview and Untouchables list.