OTHELLO are kings of CWAC again
OTHELLO - They probably could have wrestled anywhere but the Othello Huskies had added incentive to roll to a second consecutive Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) district title this weekend.
Playing host on Friday and Saturday to their CWAC brethren, the Huskies lay waste to the rest of the competition by sending through 18 wrestlers and won the title with a score of 297.5 points, easily outdistancing runners-up Ellensburg who finished with 190.5 points.
Ephrata ended up in sixth place with 145 points and Quincy finished in seventh place with 140 points.
"Overall I felt that we accomplished our goals," Othello head coach Ruben Martinez said. "A few of my administrators asked during the week how many I thought we could get through. After looking at the brackets on Monday evening I felt that we could get 20 to 22 in with two or three alternates. But I am very pleased with the 18 that we are taking and with the history of the league, there is a good chance that one or two of those two alternates can get in."
The top seven places advanced to the Region IV tournament at Ellensburg this weekend. The number seven seeds will wrestle a pigtail match to enter the main bracket.
Othello saw Huskies Lucas Garza (119-pounds), Eddie Garza (145-pounds), and Joey Gomez (189-pounds) earn individual titles.
Gomez beat fellow Huskie Alberto Vargas 2-1 in double overtime to win his crown.
Huskies Amando DeLeon (160-pounds) and Matt Jordan (135-pounds) lost out in their finals matches,
Jordan was defeated by Quincy's state veteran Manny Ybarra, 5-3 in overtime.
"Both Matt and Amando wrestled tough familiar opponents that we will most likely see again this weekend," Martinez said, "We just need to continue working on some of those little things that we can correct. These are two hard-working kids who are going to take those matches apart and we should see different outcomes."
Other Huskies to advance to next week's regional are, Anthony Barrera (103-pounds, sixth place), A.J. Garza (112-pounds, fourth place), Eric Garza (140-pounds, third place), Joseph Gonzalez (140-pounds, sixth place), Caleb Villareal (145-pounds, fourth place), Matthew Melo (152-pounds, fourth place), Stevie Garza (171-pounds, fourth place), Joseph Walker (215-pounds, fifth place), and Bubba Ruiz (285-pounds, fourth place).
The Tigers of Ephrata got its sole title from 215-pounder Deion Ducksworth who won an 18-5 decision against Narciso Gutierrez of Toppenish.
Jacob Green finished second for Ephrata at 171-pounds.
"We wrestled well but had a few tough draws where we had to wrestle against each other to stay in," Ephrata head coach P.J. Anderson said. "We will refocus our goals to getting through a tough region next week."
Helping the Tigers score big points while advancing on where Tyler Childs (119-pounds, third place), Jesus Valencia (130-pounds, sixth place), Dalton Balentine (152-pounds, sixth place), and Curtis Treiber (215-pounds, third place),
Besides Ybarra, Quincy also saw Ben Horning get to a final at 152-pounds before losing via second round pin.
The Jacks also saw Gabe Martinez (103-pounds, fifth place), Christian Alejandrez (112-pounds, third place), Uriel Heras (125-pounds, fourth place), Carter Bushman (145-pounds, fifth place), and Antonio Melendez (160-pounds, fourth place),
Quincy coach Greg Martinez was unable to comment due to the birth of his first child this weekend.
"I would like to thank the students, fans and the community for the great support that our team received this weekend," Martinez said. "The chants and the roars were heard by our team. We do have the best fans in the sport of wrestling and your presence was much appreciated."
Alternates from the three schools are David Saldivar (Othello, 125-pounds), Kyle Pohle (Ephrata, 135-pounds), Anthony Jones (Ephrata, 145-pounds), Tyrus Kenp (Ephrata, 160-pounds), Dylan Garza (Othello, 171-pounds), Stephen Villareal (Othello, 215-pounds), and Brandt Monson (Ephrata, 285-pounds).