Light and middle weights propel Warden past Chelan, 45-24

CHELAN - In a match between state tournament participants from a year ago, Warden's Miguel Canales defeated Angel Hernandez from Chelan.

Canales' win at 113 pounds helped Warden build an early lead as it cruised to a 45-24 win against Chelan Wednesday.

"Our guys just got after it," head coach Brent Cox said. "We got some pins early in the match and I think it kind of set the routine. There was some tough matches. They've got some good kids up there in Chelan."

The dual began at the lightest weight, 106 pounds, an advantage for Warden as the Cougars have three wrestlers ranked between 113 and 145 pounds.

"We started right at 106 so it was an old school match where you start from lightest to heaviest and there in our lower and middle weights they just got things going," Cox said. "We've got a lot of good wrestlers there that took on some of their studs and we got the win."

Chelan first-year head coach Martin Mitchell - a four-time state champion at Tonasket - has the program on the rise, but Cox said it would still take some time before Chelan could compete with Washington's elite teams.

"You've got to respect the program for that," he said. "They're going to have a quality group of kids and they did, it shows. You've got to give him a little time to build that program up, but he's definitely got it heading in the right direction so we knew that going in there that it was going to be tough."

Warden will send a few wrestlers to the Othello JV Invite this weekend.