Next stop: State

Warden and Royal send 27 wrestlers to Mat Classic Saturday

ROYAL CITY - The Royal Knights put themselves in a position to improve on last year's eighth-place finish in the Mat Classic. The Warden Cougars positioned themselves for a four-peat.

The two schools dominated the regional wrestling tournament in Royal City Saturday, sending 27 wrestlers to the state tournament in Tacoma later this week.

Their performance was so strong that, between the two of them, Warden and Royal will be represented at state by one wrestler in every weight class. A quarter of the 112 pound weight class will consist of Cougars and Knights.

"I was glad we got 10 guys out (to state)," said Royal head coach Ben Orth. "That's what we were hoping for."

Several wrestlers - like Warden's Kevin Bowers and Carlos Hernandez and Royal's Jose Barajas and Nels Toftdahl - rolled through the winners bracket to qualify for the tournaments.

"I'm very proud of our guys going through the front door and securing a spot in the finals," Orth said.

Others - like Warden's Joseph Elizalde - fought their way back through the losers bracket for a berth.

Tied with Kittitas' 189-pounder Louie Bruketta at 9-9 late in the third, a questionable takedown call gave Elizalde a loss and put him in a must-win match against Shane Lloyd of White Swan. Elizalde took a 2-0 lead when things got heated. Lloyd took an injury timeout and told the referee Elizalde was punching him. After his pleas fell on deaf ears, Lloyd began twisting Elizalde's fingers.

Elizalde stayed focused and took an 11-0 lead before scoring a fall at 5:09 qualify for state.

"He's never been accused of anything like that," said Warden head coach Rick Bowers of the accusations against Elizalde. "The ref was right there. He said he didn't see anything."

Recovering from a separated shoulder, Royal's 125-pound Andrew Butler battled his way through to qualify as well. Orth said he was pleasantly surprised that the Jimenez twins, Humberto and Rigoberto, both qualified at 103 and 112 respectively.

"The twins were two we were hoping to get through and they did a great job," he said. "I'm very proud of those kids. They came from Mexico a couple of years ago, they are learning English. They've had an uphill battle."

Orth said he didn't necessarily see it as a good sign that Royal advanced seven wrestlers to the championship round, compared toWarden's six.

"That's not even an issue for us," he said. "It doesn't matter what other schools do. We've got to take care our business. It's all about getting to state."

BREAKOUT

State qualifiers by weight class:

103 pounds:

Jerry Villa (Royal)

Humberto Jimenez (Royal)

112 pounds:

Stephen Elizalde (Warden)

Freddy Flores (Warden)

Rigoberto Jimenez (Royal)

Arturo Barajas (Royal)

119 pounds:

Jose Barajas (Royal)

125 pounds:

Andrew Butler (Royal)

Alan Martinez (Warden)

130 pounds:

C.J. Carver (Royal)

135 pounds:

Guillermo Mendoza (Warden)

Aaron Pruneda (Warden)

140 pounds:

Ben Stott (Warden)

Nels Toftdahl (Royal)

145 pounds:

Allen Phillips (Warden)

152 pounds:

Anthony Martinez (Warden)

Brian Gilbert (Royal)

160 pounds:

Joel Martinez (Warden)

Jose Velez (Warden)

171 pounds:

Kevin Bowers (Warden)

Trevor Rollins (Warden)

189 pounds:

Joseph Elizalde (Warden)

215 pounds:

Carlos Hernandez (Warden)

Nathan Alvarado (Warden)

275 pounds:

Jr Hernandez (Royal)

Luis Martinez (Warden)

Aaron Wixom (Warden)