Royal sending six to state, Wahluke sending two
Royal's Darren Miller, right, is one of the smarter wrestlers in the class A ranks. He gives Zillah's Chris Warford a 10-1 clinic in the 170-pound final.
ZILLAH - Royal high school qualified six wrestlers for the state 1A tournament at last weekend's regional tournament in Zillah, and Wahluke qualified two.
While six may not seem to be a lot of qualifiers, the six for Royal could accomplish a big surprise at state. Top 5 is not beyond possibility for first-year coach Randy Miller's team.
The state tournament will be held in the the Tacoma Dome on Friday and Saturday. Warden, which won regionals, will be favored.
With only two qualifiers, Wahluke likely won't place as a team. But the two Warriors who qualified are capable of placing individually. One finished second at regionals, and the other finished fourth.
Royal will take three regional champions, two regional runners-up and one regional third-place finisher to the dome. All are good bets to place individually and score for the team. It would not be a pipe dream to hope for 3-4 champs.
"If everybody wrestles their best, we could do very well," Miller said.
Royal finished fifth at regionals with 126.5 points. Defending state champion Granger finished third with 145. Both teams are taking six to state, and Royal's could be the stronger six.
Royal was led in Saturday's finals by 113-pound Kiki Chabolla. He left no doubt who was in charge, pinning Bryan Funk of Zillah, defeating Fernando Gomez of Connell, 19-0, and Miguel Canales of Warden, 10-5.
Carlos Hernandez of the Knights nearly pulled off a similar feat at the next weight, 120. He defeated Alejandro Ochoa of Zillah, 13-2, and Juan Pablo Salcedo of Highland, 2-0.
Then Hernandez ran into to Granger's two-time state runner-up Ricky Almaguer. The two boys grappled heatedly for an advantage and couldn't find one, with Almaguer eventually winning a 3-2 decision.
At 160, Royal's Emilio Bustos pulled off three straight victories for his title. He started with a pin of Demetrius McCoy of Goldendale, defeated Ethan Tunning of Zillah, 10-5, and topped Tyler McTee of Naches, 7-1.
At 170 pounds, Darrin Miller of Royal, the coach's son, was dominant. He pinned Isaias Vela of Zillah, topped David Cantu of Granger, 9-2, and defeated Chris Warford of Zillah, 10-1.
Royal had another title shot at 195, but it was not to be. The Knights' Matt Bartlett, a particularly strong sophomore, ran into a Connell boy who was stronger and fell, 12-4.
But the jovial one was all smiles afterward. He had qualified for state earlier by pinning Salvador Urbina of Mabton and beating Reggie Sargeant of Goldendale.
Royal's third-place finish came from Carter Allred at 182 pounds. He defeated old friend Jack Yorgesen of Wahluke, 4-2, for third place in another barn-burning Allred-Yorgesen battle.
Not all was lost for Yorgesen, however. He had defeated Jake Partlow of Goldendale and Luke Williams of Highland earlier to qualify for state. Allred also had victories over Williams and Partlow.
Wahluke's best effort at regionals came from Adrian Toscano at 138 pounds. He has had a brilliant season of more than 30 wins and a district championship.
Toscano continued to win at regionals, taking his first two matches. He defeated Absalom Macias of Granger, 6-5, and pinned Luis Carrasco of Burbank. But he couldn't handle Zillah's Diego Hernandez and fell, 10-4, in the final.
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