Huskies wrestlers take fourth in Hanford

HANFORD - Five finalists keyed a fourth-place finish for the Othello Huskies at the Hanford Winter Cup wrestling tournament on Tuesday.

Two of those Huskies, Amando DeLeon (171-pounds) and Joey Gomez (215-pounds) captured individual titles as Othello wracked up 152 points to finish only behind the winners Sunnyside (221), Richland (187), and East Valley of Spokane (185).

"Having five wrestlers in the finals and getting two champions is a good tournament for us," Othello head coach Ruben Martinez said. "At tournaments we need to score in every weight class, as those three teams that finished ahead of us were able to accomplish that feat."

DeLeon won his title by virtue of two pin wins and then a strong 5-2 win over Matt Mastonardi of East Valley in the championship.

The same path to the crown was taken by Gomez who earned two first round pins before winning 7-3 in the title match over Mitch Atwell of Richland.

Anthony Barrera (103-pounds), Matt Jordan (140-pounds), and Eddie Garza (152-pounds), all got to the finals before losing in their respective weight class title matches.

Barrera fell 11-3 to Jesse Barajas of Sunnyside, Jordan lost by the same score to Richland's Dustin Utech, and Garza was beaten by Josh Romero of Sunnyside, 15-5.

"Amando and Joey wrestled extremely well," Martinez said. "Matt and Eddie had some tough kids in the finals and Anthony got hurt in the finals but finished the match in a valiant effort."

AJ Garza took third at 112-pounds while Alberto Vargas did the same at 189-pounds.

"We have some holes that are being exposed at these tournaments," Martinez said. "We have two more big invites then we can focus on the district tournament.  Our depth is what is keeping us in the CWAC hunt, so we will go for that title."