The 2024-2025 season for the Lincoln wrestling team marked the beginning of a new era for Lincoln’s wrestling team. Not only did the team have a 14-3 head-to-head dual record, but they also sent 10 boys and 7 girls to the state tournament at the Tacoma Dome over midwinter break. This was a program record for Lincoln wrestling, sending 12 more athletes to state than any year since Lincoln’s reopening. These athletes have all had success despite facing so much adversity throughout the season including injury, heartbreaking losses, and grueling practices.
Before the pinnacle of Washington state wrestling in the Tacoma dome, I had the amazing opportunity to talk with many of these wrestlers. When asked what brought him to wrestling, Keoki Takeno (‘26) responded “I had already been doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grew up doing Aikido so it seemed like the most logical sport to do.” Masavo Gnonhossou (‘26) told me the story of how he was recruited: “I was bullied into it by Finn Glanville and Jon Mathis last year and I enjoyed it and was decently good at it so I kept going.” Ceci Roupp (‘27) had a similar experience, “I started wrestling because I had a deal with Faustine in which she joined my sport if I joined hers, I thought I wasn’t going to last but I ended up really liking it.”
Lincoln wrestling’s state qualifiers all had very different levels of experience, some had been wrestling all through high school, and others were freshman just starting. Many of Lincoln’s wrestlers didn’t see themselves qualifying, Tyler Grife (‘28) shared, “I didn’t see myself becoming a state qualifier” and Roupp said “When I first began I didn’t think I was going to make it through the season, so no”. Gnonhossou and Wyatt Smith (‘25), by contrast, expressed a lot of confidence, the only comment they both had on whether they’d make it to state was “yes.”
School pride was a very important part of these athletes’ experience; Jayce Lopez (‘25) said “Lincoln has prepared me in so many ways, one of them being mental because having a clear state of mind is important for success”. “We have the best coaches in the state” added Smith, attributing some of his success to his coaches. Faustine Artigalas (‘27) also praised Lincoln’s coaches, along with the strong team community, “Everyone on the team works really hard and the coaches always support you, wrestling is completely individual but you need others to get better at it.”
Looking at the future, Lincoln’s wrestlers have high hopes for what they’ll take away from this experience. Campbell Harcourt (‘26) wants “to do well at states this year and next year for aura” and Grife hopes to “get stronger and more disciplined from wrestling”. After his high school wrestling experience, Lopez hopes to “keep some of the wrestling skill with me along the way.”

Many lifelong memories were created this season, “Beating Ballard and recreating the infamous photo [during the 2023-24 season a team photo was taken where all the athletes were smiling but the coaches were not following a loss against Ballard]” was a favorite from Smith. Grife said “My favorite memory was qualifying for state with Seiji as we became the first freshman to qualify for states at Lincoln”. Artigalas’s favorite moment was “probably going to get food with the girls team after tournaments at chipotle.”
Lastly, I asked these wrestlers what younger athletes should know if they dream of making state one day. Harcourt says it’s important to “Wrestle more.” Takeno gave more specific advice, “Do off season work and in practice go the extra mile and just be open to corrections and also have faith in yourself you are better than you think”. Experience and practice really elevate an athlete to a higher level, according to Lincoln’s wrestlers. Artigalas summarized: “Younger athletes should just work hard, I don’t think there’s really a secret to it. If you keep practicing then you’ll get better and better off season wrestling is what really got me to where I’m at”.
Lincoln Wrestling made many steps forward this year, culminating with all of these athletes’ great performances in the Tacoma dome–including Lincoln’s first ever athlete to place top 4 in the state, Kaia Dewey (‘28). Because of this experience, these athletes feel, as Smith put it, “prepared for the rest of my life.”