Chiefs finish fourth at Tri-State

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — The Moses Lake Chiefs wrestling team battled extreme winter conditions and some of the best wrestlers from Washington, Montana and Idaho last weekend at the Tri-State Invitational Wrestling tournament held at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene.

The Chiefs sent two wrestlers to the finals and finished with seven placers on their way to a fourth-place overall finish in the 34-team tournament.

Moses Lake head coach Jamie Wise said his team performed better this year than it had in the past.

“It went better than it has in the last couple of years,” he said. “It is one of the toughest tournaments in the country.”

The tournament included defending Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) 4A champion Lake Stevens High School, defending WIAA 2A state champion Deer Park and defending Montana High School Association 2A champion Flathead.

Moses Lake finished fourth behind team champion Lake Stevens, team runner-up Flathead and third place Deer Park.

Moses Lake had some strong performances over the weekend, Wise said.

“It takes a pretty good team performance to place fourth,” he said. “We had some great performances by some wrestlers.”

Although the Chiefs finished in fourth place, Wise said his team needs to improve and learn from their experiences.

“I think we learned some things we need to sort out,” he said. “It’s not the end of the world, but it doesn’t mean it’s any less disappointing.”

Moses Lake sent two wrestlers to championship matches in seniors Tom Pfieffer and Sammy Villegas. Pfieffer wrestled for the championship at 145 pounds and Villegas at 152 pounds.

Despite two wrestlers in the finals, the Chiefs were unable to come away with an individual champion. However, Wise said his finalists had solid tournaments.

“They had some great matches along the way,” he said.

Team Tournament Results

Top 10

1) Lake Stevens - 206.5

2) Flathead (Mont.) - 186.5

3) Deer Park - 145

4) Moses Lake - 139.5

5) Tahoma - 125

6) Riverside - 116

7) University - 110.5

8) Lakeside - 105

9) East Valley - 98

10) Auburn - 87

Moses Lake Tournament Placers

Second Place

145) Thomas Pfieffer

152) Sammy Villegas

Third Place

119) David Peralez

Fourth Place

130) Nicco Moreno

Sixth Place

135) Tyler Vela

215) Spencer Fackrell

Eighth Place

189) Brian Chamberlain