Jacks jolt Grandview in CWAC wrestling

Jackrabbits 61, Greyhounds 12

QUINCY - The 2007-2008 Quincy High School wrestling team is, in a sense, starting over.

This year's Jackrabbits are forced to fill a few holes after losing several strong leaders. Gone are regional qualifiers Jared Reyes, Henry Hernandez, Gabe Lindquist and Nick Melburn, who helped Quincy tie for the Central Washington Athletic Conference championship last season.

But longtime head coach Manuel Ybarra isn't about to concede anything. He sees a good group of kids who got their CWAC season off to a fast start on Thursday, defeating the Grandview Greyhounds 61-12.

The Jacks are a junior-laden squad, with 11th-graders filling seven of the 14 varsity weights. Senior Kelly Schwint is the only returning state qualifier, and he moves into the 215-pound slot after spending last year at 189.

Schwint had a tough battle with Grandview freshman Adam Morales on Thursday. He led 7-1 in the second period, but Morales rallied to tie the bout twice. With things still knotted in the final 10 seconds, Schwint escaped and earned a 10-9 victory.

"He's been getting high centered," Ybarra said of Schwint. "We've been working on staying back, righting the hips a little bit. Starting next week we've got a lot more work to do with that, but he's getting better."

Quincy has four other returning wrestlers with regional tournament experience. Carlos Magana, Danny Somers, Breck Webley and Max Melburn all added weight this winter, and all four won their matches on Thursday.

Magana earned an early takedown of Omar Verduzco in their 119-pound match and finished off the pin at 1 minute, 12 seconds. Melburn (285 pounds) wasted even less time in the evening's final match, pinning Edward Acosta in 50 seconds.

Somers (140) also won in relatively easy fashion, leading 4-0 after one period and pinning Eddie Galindo at the 2:20 mark. But Webley (171) had to fend off Greg Gonzalez in the final seconds - he'd built a 10-3 lead that shrank to 13-11 and Gonzalez was on the verge of the tying or go-ahead points when the final horn sounded.

Varsity newcomer Tim Silvas also impressed his coach. The junior, filling the 130-pound position, took a 7-4 lead with a takedown and near fall in the second period and held off Garret Walker for an 11-7 decision.

"Tim Silvas put up a good, hard fight," Ybarra said. "He's been hurt a little bit and we haven't been able to condition much. It was interesting to see him finish out a full six-minute match - that was good to see."

The Greyhounds took an immediate 6-0 lead as Adrian Gonzalez won by forfeit at 103 pounds. Tony Lee (112) trimmed Quincy's deficit to 6-4 with a 12-1 major decision against Santos Guillen and Magana gave the Jacks a lead they'd never give up with his pin at 119.

Junior Armando Herrera (125) destroyed Spencer Blanshan, piling up two takedowns and a near fall before a pin at the 1:15 mark. Freshman Manny Ybarra also dominated his foe, Storm Shea, at 135 pounds, leading 6-0 and finishing off the pin at 3:22.

Junior 145-pounder Ronald Sorto won by forfeit, 160-pounder Kyle Arnall pinned Jose Garza at 3:19, and 189-pounder Michael Reyes rallied from an early hole to post a pin of Keagan Christensen at 3:19.

Quincy's only true loss of the evening came at 152-pounds, where sophomore Keaton Webley was pinned at 1:49 by Isaac Alaniz.

Coach Ybarra likes what he sees from his junior class, who figure to play a prominent role in the Jacks' season.

"Most of our junior guys are really aggressive," Ybarra said. "It's nice to see that they don't go out and mess around. They get the job done and get out - it's a force of habit."

While the coach refused to speculate on where Quincy stacks up in the CWAC race, he does believe in setting high goals.

"It'll be a hard road to get there, but no sense in shooting for second," he said.