Warden, Royal dominate districts

Rivals take all 14 weight classes in eight-team battle for regionals.

WARDEN — There were few surprises at the SCAC East District Tournament Saturday, which is a good thing if you are Warden or Royal.

Defending three consecutive state titles, Warden took first place with 455 team points and eight wrestlers finishing first. Royal mounted the only legitimate challenge to the throne, placing six wrestlers in first and scoring 306.5 team points. No other team broke triple digits.

Wrestlers from the two schools took first place in every weight class and got into position for a strong showing at regionals.

"We know Royal is strong, but we've got the depth," said Warden head coach Rick Bowers. Warden entered 28 wrestlers, 19 of which qualified for districts.

The Cougars got dominant performances out of Kevin Bowers at 171 pounds and Joseph Elizalde at 189 pounds, who both finished the tournament with three straight falls to take first place in their respective classes.

Down 2-1 against Pomeroy's Jake Fisher at 145 pounds, Allen Phillips scored a takedown with three seconds left in the third round to pull off the come-from-behind win and and earn first place.

Warden's top wrestler at 160, Joel Martinez, fell to Warden's second 160, Jose Valez and finished third. Valez advanced to the final and beat Ryan Holmer of Columbia-Burbank 15-13 in overtime in a seesaw match.

Finals in some of the higher weight classes seemed like more of a Warden intrasquad match and less like a district tournament. Bowers topped Trevor Rawlins 6-0 at 171 and Carlos Hernandez topped Nathan Alvarado 7-2 at 215.

But the match of the night may have been at 112 between Stephen Elizalde and Royal's Arturo Barajas.

Leading in the third round, Barajas was called for an illegal full-nelson, which shrank his lead to 5-4. Then, with less that 30 seconds in the round Elizalde upended Barajas pull ahead. Elizalde held on in the closing seconds for the narrow win.

"The crowd saw two quality kids and two great wrestlers and it came down to the end," said Royal head coach Ben Orth.

Royal qualified 14 of the 21 wrestlers it entered, and Orth said he got what he wanted out of his team.

"We got all the kids through that we should have," he said. "But I would like to have seen some of these alternates make it."

Jerry Villa looked strong at 103 pounds, winning in a technical fall in the final 21-4 over Robert Langloss of Kittitas.

Jose Barajas pinned Dayton's Willy Whipple at 1:01 in the second round to take first at 119 pounds.

Orth said he was impressed by the outing of Luke Tonnemaker at 125 pounds, who had a stron showing despite a loss to Allen Martinez of Warden.

"In the last seconds, he got put to his back, but he wrestled really well," Orth said.

Wahluke finished seventh with 55 team points and qualified four wrestlers. The Warriors got the strongest showing out of sophomore Eric Valdez at 119 pounds. Valdez took third and only lost one match, eventual champion Jose Barajas of Royal.

Both Royal and Warden are expected to advance many wrestlers to state, but Bowers said he won't make any comparisons between his team and the state champions of the past three years.

"It is this year's team," he said. "I can't compare what we had before to what we have today. This year's team goes to win the state title, and they're good enough to do it."

BREAKOUT:

District Qualifiers:

103 1st — Jerry Villa ROY

2nd — Robert Langloss KIT

3rd — Humberto Jiminez ROY

4th — Colton Watt RIV

112 1st — Stephen Elizalde WAR

2nd — Arturo Barajas ROY

3rd — Freddy Flores WAR

4th — Rigoberto Jiminez ROY

119 1st — Jose Barajas ROY

2nd — Willy Whipple DAY

3rd — Eric Valdez WAH

4th — Patrick Schrader COL

125 1st — Alan Martinez WAR

2nd — Jeremy Lohr COL

3rd — Andrew Butler ROY

4th — Arnoldo Martinez WAR

130 1st — CJ Carver ROY

2nd — Tyler Bray KIT

3rd — Arturo Martinez WAR

4th — Hugo Villanueva WAH

135 1st — Guillermo Mendoza WAR

2nd — Kyle Rucker COL

3rd — Aaron Pruneda WAR

4th — Jesse Tennant POM

140 1st — Nels Toftdahl ROY

2nd — Ben Stott WAR

3rd — Kent Jenkins POM

4th — Luke Ahmann WAR

145 1st — Allen Phillips WAR

2nd — Jake Fisher POM

3rd — Cody Cole WAR

4th — Hector Ledezma ROY

152 1st — Brian Gilbert ROY

2nd — Anthony Martinez WAR

3rd — Ben Buck RIV

4th — Benji Martinez WAR

160 1st — Jose Valdez WAR

2nd — Ryan Homer COL

3rd — Joel Martinez WAR

4th — Josh Mathis ROY

171 1st — Kevin Bowers WAR

2nd — Trevor Rollins WAR

3rd — Carlos Villa ROY

4th — Evan Eaton DAY

189 1st — Joseph Elizalde WAR

2nd — Mike Pierce RIV

3rd — Louie Bruketta KIT

4th — Lars Larson WAH

215 1st — Carlos Hernandez WAR

2nd — Nathan Alvarado WAR

3rd — Derek Matthews ROY

4th — Josh Jones KIT

275 1st — Jr. Hernandez ROY

2nd — Luis Martinez WAR

3rd — Aaron Wixom WAR

4th — Robbie Main KIT

Team Standings:

1st Warden 455.0

2nd Royal 306.5

3rd Pomeroy 95.5

4th Kittitas 89.0

5th Col.-Bur. 83.0

6th River View 59.0

7th Wahluke 55.0

8th Dayton 52.0