Knights win Regionals
J.T. Garland of Burbank is doomed as Royal's Darrin Miller applies a stunning move that ends in a pin at 1:55 of a 170-pound semifinal.
ROYAL CITY - The Royal High School wrestling team, developing at perhaps a faster pace than even coach Randy Miller expected, won the SCAC Regional Wrestling Tournament at Kiona-Benton Saturday.
Tournament officials did not report the team scoring.
Ten of the wrestling Knights qualified for the state meet at Tacoma this weekend. They scored three individual titles and were runners-up at three more weights.
Wahluke High School did not fare nearly as well. The Warriors qualified one wrestler for state, fourth place Francisco Tapia at 152 pounds. Reyes Ramirez of the Warriors won a state alternate position with fifth place at 220 pounds.
Royal arrived at Regionals with 20 wrestlers and an attitude. Eighteen of the Knights won in the first round, giving the team an early lead that would be hard to overcome.
"We had a really good start," coach Miller said.
In addition to the crown, the really good news is that eight of the 10 qualifiers will still be on the team next year.
Winning individual crowns for Royal were junior Carlos Hernandez at 126 pounds, junior Darrin Miller at 170 and senior Miguel Ayala at 220.
Freshman Eduardo Rodriguez took second at 106, junior Kiki Chabolla finished second at 126, and junior Jose Ponce garnered second at 138.
Other Knights who qualified for state were junior Steven Toro, third at 120, junior Angel Rojas, third at 285, sophomore Abraham Medina, fourth at 126, and senior Gerard Weyns, fourth at 182.
Taking fifth and making it to state as alternates were sophomore Eduardo Acevedo at 113, sophomore Addin Felker at 132 and junior Hunter Follett at 195.
Leading the Royal charge with brute force was Ayala. He pinned Augustin Paredes in the semifinals in 44 seconds, then pinned Zillah's Lasaro Ochoa in 17 seconds in the final.
Hernandez won his first two matches in a breeze, but the title match required some work. He defeated Erick De La Rosa of Zillah, 8-0, Medina of Royal, 15-0, and David Peterson of Highland, 6-4.
Miller was nearly as brutal as Ayala. He pinned Ruben Finn of Goldendale in 37 seconds. The semifinal against J.T. Garland of Burbank took 1:55, and Miller had to go into the second period to win the final over Bryce Wilkins of Goldendale in 3:19.
Rodriguez fell, 6-1, in his final, but he got to second place with wins over Ethan Coleman of Naches, 9-0, and Nicholas Summerville of Highland, 3-2.
Chabolla lost his title match by pin late in the third period. He made it to state by topping Toro of Royal, 1-0. He had a first-round bye.
Ponce worked hard to qualify for state. He defeated Hunter Gangle of Naches, 6-4, and Miguel Negrete of Highland, 5-4, before falling in the final by pin.
After dropping his semifinal, Toro made it to third place by defeating Jaymen Phillips of Kiona-Benton, 10-1, and Juan Isiordia of Granger, 8-6.
After falling in the semifinals, Medina worked his way back to fourth place and state by pinning Christian Fabela of Wahluke in 5:00.
Rojas lost his semifinal to Gavin Brumley of Naches. But he came back to beat Jose Mendoza of Granger, 2-1, for third place.
Weyns made it to state by pinning Arnold Pahau of Highland in 38 seconds in second consolation round.
The state tournament will be held in the Tacoma Dome Friday and Saturday. Royal took fewer boys last year than this year and finished 11th. Chabolla placed second individually, Hernandez placed third, and Miller placed fifth.