Chiefs finish 12th at Tri-State Tournament

COEUR D’ALENE — Moses Lake High School wrestling travelled to one of the tougher tournaments in the region.

“It can be pretty brutal like it was this year,” Chiefs coach Jamie Wise said.

Moses Lake ended up 12th out of 52 teams at the Tri State Tournament held Friday and Saturday at North Idaho College.

Each weight class was composed of 64-man, double-elimination brackets with some of the classes not filled to wrestler capacity.

“We were very disappointed in the way we fought as a team,” Wise said. “We are not where we want to be as a team right now. We need to be more physical and intense and are going to be working much harder this week on those aspects.”

Still three Chiefs managed to place amongst the hordes of grapplers, including Brian Chamberlain at 215-pounds and Kabe Fluaitt at 285-pounds.

Both young men finished third in their weight classes.

Beau Gleed took seventh at 103-pounds.

“Those three were the bright spots for the Chiefs,” Wise said. “They battled tough throughout the tournament, but the team has a long way to go before we will be ready for post-season.

“This readies you for the state tournament and tough battling you have to be ready for,” Wise said. “If this had been a state tournament we wouldn’t have fared anywhere where we hope to. But its not the end of the season, and hopefully we will begin battling better as time goes on.”