Fifth title eludes Warden

Cougar wrestlers earn top five finish

TACOMA — Warden battled throughout the weekend to defend its state title, but when the action concluded at this weekend's state wrestling tournament Saturday, the Cougars found themselves in fifth place. While most teams would be excited by a top five finish in the tournament, Warden is not most teams.

"We're a little disappointed," said Warden coach Rick Bowers, "but overall it was a good weekend."

"The kids worked hard and wrestled hard," added Bowers.

Warden's hard work resulted in seven of 10 wrestlers earning medals at the tournament. Every Cougar wrestler won at least one match during the two-day tournament.

Leading the way for the Cougars was 275-pound wrestler Nathan Alvarado, who came up just short in his bid for a state title.

After a convincing 6-1 semi-finals victory, Alvarado faced Raymond's Jared Little in the championship bout.

Alvarado got in position behind Little and appeared ready to take the lead. Little, however, countered Alvarado's takedown attempt with a takedown and 2-point near fall. Alvarado fought to regain the control in the match, but the Raymond wrestler was able to protect his lead and win by a 5-2 score.

The match was an example of what the Cougars endured for much of the weekend.

"We fought hard," said Bowers. "The little things just didn't go our way."

Anthony Martinez opened his tournament at 152 pounds with an upset-loss to Landis Mills of Republic. Rather than concede defeat, Martinez went on to win four consecutive matches to reach the consolation finals. In the match for third and fourth, the Warden wrestler lost an overtime battle with Royal's Josh Mathis.

Bowers wasn't surprised that Martinez had the heart to overcome the opening-round loss.

"He and (Stephen) Elizalde have been the core of the program all year," Bowers said of Martinez.

At 112 pounds, Elizalde finished third for the Cougars. Elizalde overcame a quarterfinals loss to Tonasket's Matt Carroll to earn his third top-three finish at state. For the second straight year, the Warden wrestler finished the tournament with a double-overtime victory.

Saturday, Elizalde entered the third round of his consolation finals match trailing 6-4. With 35 seconds remaining, Elizalde scored a reversal on Kittitas' Robert Langloss to tie the match.

Langloss immediately reversed Elizalde to reclaim the lead, but with two seconds left in regulation, the Warden wrestler earned another reversal to send the match into overtime. After a scoreless overtime round, Elizalde elected to take the bottom position in the second overtime period.

The Warden senior scrambled briefly before scoring the winning reversal midway through the second overtime.

Senior Allen Phillps finished fifth at 145 pounds for the Cougars. After losing to defending state champion Seth Schertenleib of Republic in the semi-finals, Phillips earned fifth place with a pin of Liberty Bell's Pat O'Daimhin.

At 140 pounds, Aaron Pruneda finished eighth for Warden. After nearly upsetting defending champion Benton Crow of Raymond in the quarterfinals, Pruneda defeated Jason Caveness of Darrington 5-2 to place at state.

A pair of Warden freshmen, Jesse Guerra and Robert Pruneda brought home the Cougars' final two medals. Guerra finished seventh at 103 pounds and Robert Pruneda finished sixth at 119 pounds.

Jose Velez (160 lbs.), Joel Martinez (171 lbs.) and Freddy Gutierrez (215 lbs.) each went 1-2 at the tournament.

Warden, which returns only three state veterans next year, will have a tough time challenging for the title in 2007.

As for the champion Knights, Bowers was impressed with their tournament performance.

"Hats off to Royal, they wrestled really well," Bowers said.

"Years ago I was the young guy trying to knock off (Cashmere's) Bill Elliott," Bowers added reflectively. "Now, I'm the old guy getting beat by the young guy."

Chiefs battle tough field

First round woes trouble Moses Lake

By Pam Robel

Herald staff writer

TACOMA — The Chiefs struggled to find a rhythm in the first round and playing catch-up cost them as the tournament wore on.

"We had a bad first round but the kids came back and competed real well," said head coach Jamie Wise.

Roberto Cruz posted the only victory for Moses Lake in the first round Friday. He went on to wrestle in the finals and take second place overall after losing to Nick Cambron of Central Valley 10-8 in overtime.

Brett Fredrickson, Moses Lake's title contender at 215, suffered a tournament ending injury in his first bout.

"I felt bad about Brett," Wise said. "We were counting on points from him but you can't plan for injuries like that."

Matched up against Tulu Kamatule of Hudson's Bay, Fredrickson and Kamatule were battling for supremacy in the match when Fredrickson walked over to the edge of the circle after a take down and asked for injury time.

Both assistant coach Jim Nielsen and trainer Gary Clinton examined Fredrickson's shoulder and suggested that he leave the mat for further evaluation. Fredrickson lost by injury default and was later diagnosed with a separated collar bone.

After a 12-1 first round loss, Cody Hoiness came back through the consolation brackets to take fifth in state.

Hoiness earned two wins by fall in the consolation rounds and also beat an opponent 11-7 to qualify for the fifth-sixth placing bout.

In Hoiness's final bout he faced Julio Rodriguez of Rogers-Puyallup and defeated him 4-2.

Stevie Vasquez and John Fackrell found themselves in the consolation rounds after losing their first bouts 13-3 and 10-2 respectively.

Both battled back in the consolation rounds, defeating two opponents before facing off against each other in the quarter-finals.

In the first round, Fackrell jumped out to an early 4-1 lead with a take down and a 2-point near fall. Vasquez picked up steam in the second round and pulled ahead 6-5 with two take downs and an escape.

The final round of the match was close. Fackrell tied the match at six after earning an escape. Vasquez circled and took Fackrell down for two. Fackrell was able to score another escape but could not earn another score to tie or win.

Vasquez took the match 8-7 and went on to a fifth place finish. Fackrell finished eighth overall.

Matt Palmer pulled two tough draws and was eliminated after two rounds.

"I think we had a great performance this weekend," said Wise. "Having 4-of-6 place is pretty good. I'm happy with the way we competed."

Tiger trio wrestles for titles

Ephrata takes home two first place

finishes

By Pam Robel

Herald staff writer

TACOMA — Before the finals Ephrata had three wrestlers preparing for the finals.

"We're just going to go out there and try and win each one," said head coach Dave Laird before the finals began.

The odds were in favor of the Tigers with the dangerous Jake Horn, Dallas Hintz and Zack Brissey in the championship rounds in their respective weight classes.

Horn in particular, had battled through a tough match in the semi-finals against Tyler Gateman of Vashon Island. Earlier in the year Gateman had defeated Horn 17-1.

Ephrata's assistant coaches had been preparing Horn for the rematch since the initial defeat.

"Gateman is the one we've been gearing up for all year," said Laird. "Knox and Andersen worked with him (Jake) all week, getting ready for Gateman."

Horn was able to best Gateman in a match that went down to the wire but saw the Ephrata wrestler out on top 6-4 after a last minute take down.

"Those two (Knox and Andersen) had him so ready he had to win," Laird said.

Of his other wrestlers, Laird was equally positive.

Dallas Hintz, who fell to Phillip Ontiveros on the finals, dominated his earlier matches to get to the championship. Hintz's trip to state came after an illness that left him drained for the regional tournament.

"What he has accomplished already is unbelievable," said Laird. "He's such a competitor."

Of Zack Brissey who won the 152-pound title handily, Laird had nothing but praise.

"When he came in, we thought he was the kid to beat," Laird said. "When he's wrestling at that level, he's tough to beat."

Jakob Torgeson rounded out Ephrata's state team but was not able to place in the top eight.

Huskies advance three

Othello suffers a tough start

By Pam Robel

Herald staff writer

TACOMA — Othello took eight wrestlers to Tacoma but were only able to advance four after a tough Friday night.

"For only having four on the second day and three in the finals, it went pretty good," said head coach Ruben Martinez of the weekend in Tacoma.

The Huskies advanced Freddie Flores, a returning state champion, to the finals up a weight class from last year.

Flores moved through his first three bouts easily; taking down his opponents 10-8, 7-2 and 14-9 respectively to reach the finals.

To win the championship Flores came from behind for a pin in the third round.

"If Freddie taught anything to the kids in the stands, it's 'Don't quit,'" said Martinez. "A pin in wrestling is the ultimate and he did that."

Phillip Ontiveros won a title of his own against Dallas Hintz of Ephrata in a hotly contested match. The two fought it out but Ontiveros came up with the win.

In Othello's final title match, Rudy Ochoa, a wrestler with limited experience on the Othello team, matched up against Dan Worley.

Ochoa wrestled a tight match and kept pace with Worley despite the 8-4 loss he incurred.

"He did good, for the time he has been on the team," Martinez said. "It's tough to see your two buddies win and not get to celebrate with them but he has nothing to hang his head about."

Othello's final wrestler making an appearance Saturday was Mat Garza.

Garza fell into the consolation brackets after the first round and won his first two matches in consolation before falling to Justin Murray of Medical Lake 4-1.

Garza earned a seventh place finish after defeating Daniel Shierling of Tenino 11-2 Saturday afternoon.

The other four qualifiers for Othello were: Jake Johnston, Teddy Montemayor, Derek Stelter and Michael Carmona.

Lindquist leads Jacks at state

Quincy puts one wrestler through to place

By Pam Robel

Herald staff writer

TACOMA — Gabe Lindquist led Quincy's run in Tacoma, wrestling to a third place finish in the 2A 125 weight class.

The Quincy 125 pounder wrestled two solid bouts to begin the tournament.

In his first match he took on Mike Broyan of Blaine and earned a pin at 2:49 to advance.

Lindquist's quarter-final match looked similar to his opening match. He faced off against Zack Demers of Rochester and managed a pin at 1:30 to move on to the semi-finals.

The semi-finals was tougher on Lindquist. He matched up against John Thompson of Orting, who went on to take the state title, and lost 7-0.

That loss sent Lindquist into the consolation rounds to battle it out for third through eighth place.

Lindquist's first round match in the consolations pitted him against Brandon Leliefeld of Deer Park who fell into the consolation rounds after the first round.

Lindquist battled out a 4-3 win to land in the third-fourth place match against Robert Spackmann of Riverside.

In the final match for Lindquist, the Quincy wrestler was able to win 5-2 for a third place finish.

Quincy's other state qualifiers included Todd Yeats, Jared Reyes and Dan Somers. Each competed in two matches before being eliminated from the tournament.