Royal wrestlers finish 6th at state

ROYAL CITY - Seven Royal High boys placed at the 27th Mat Classic in Tacoma last weekend, elevating the team to sixth place and the best performance by a South Central A Conference school.

Eight of the 10 Knights who participated scored team points, and Royal totaled 96.5. Last year, Royal finished 11th with 59 points.

The output is a good indicator that second-year coach Randy Miller's boys are becoming the dominant program he thought possible. Five of the boys who placed will return next year. So will one other who participated at state and 10 who competed at regionals.

Miller thought this team would do even better this year, but he was happy with the outcome.

"It's stepping stone," he said. "It takes little steps. We could be competing for the title next year or in two years."

After the meet, Miller told the boys they are capable of reaching the top. It's a matter of "buying in" to the work it will take. Off-season conditioning and weight training will be as important as wrestling workouts.

Royal was looking up at Granger and Zillah when Miller arrived before the start of last season. It pretty much leveled things with those two last year. This year, Granger finished ninth at state and Zillah 13th.

After the district tournament, which was held at Royal two weeks ago, Miller laid out a plan for toughening his boys next year. He will attempt to schedule non-league duals with quality 2A, 3A and 4A programs.

"The only way to get better is to face better competition," Miller said.

He spoke with coaches from Moses Lake and Chiawana at the state meet and both indicated they'd like to schedule Royal. He appears to have duals worked out with Chelan and Deer Park.

Royal was in the battle for the state crown on Friday. It scored heavily in the first two rounds, advancing four Knights to the semifinals. Saturday all four dropped into consolation, slowing the scoring.

That surprised Miller. He thought at least two of his boys would make the finals.

Freshman 106-pounder Eduardo Rodriguez, junior 120-pounder Kiki Chabolla and junior Darrin Miller led the Knights with third place finishes.

Chabolla was surprised in the first round but toughened up for five straight victories. The upset for the regional runner-up came at the hands of 3rd-seeded Alvaro Ortiz of Forks, 11-7, in three overtimes.

Chabolla came back to third place by pinning Joe Dallas of Omak, beating David Skaugstad of Newport, 11-0, teammate Steven Toro, 7-5, Ortiz, 6-1, and JoJo Saringan of Castle Rock, 4-3. The revenge win over Ortiz was especially sweet as Ortiz was relegated to fifth place.

Toro suffered a loss in the first round and had a similar challenge to Chabolla's. He decisioned Rodolfo Flores of Vashon, 16-0, and Shae Shoop from Port Townsend, 15-13, before falling to Chabolla and settling for eighth place.

The Freshman Rodriguez kicked off the tournament for Royal with a pin of Edgar Salazar of Hoquiam. He defeated David Woo of Sultan, 4-2, then dropped the semifinal, 12-1, to T.J. Bain of Colville. Dropping into consolation, Rodriguez pinned Casey Brady of Eatonville and topped Woo again, 8-0, for third place.

Senior Carlos Hernandez, 126 pounds, pinned Justin Sample of Elma and Ivan Reyes of Chelan to make the semifinals. He suffered a tough 12-9 defeat by Derick Tollen of La Center. He dropped to consolation and suffered a 7-6 loss to James McKenzie of Sultan before defeating Aaron Klauder of Deer Park, 10-2, for fifth place.

Wrestling in the same weight division, sophomore Abraham Medina claimed seventh place for the Knights. Medina started with a loss to Tollen by pin then won two matches, by pin over Hunter Burger of Vashon and by decision, 4-2, over Jesse Velez of Hoquiam, to qualify for a medal. He lost to McKenzie, 9-4, then defeated Reyes, 11-3, for seventh.

At 170, Miller took the same road as Rodriguez to third place. After pinning Jimmy Desroches of Riverside and Reece Moody of Forks, he dropped a semifinal to Ben Knight of Colville, 7-4. Then he pinned Konner Langholff of Klahowya and toppled Billy Sims of Freeman, 10-4, for third place.

Ayala started his weekend with a pin of Michael Quezada of Omak and a pin of Morgan Yates of Sultan. He was pinned in the semifinal by Trevor Eicher of Deer Park and in consolation by Taylor Rupe of Montesano. He recovered from the setbacks to pin Yates again for fifth place.

Three more Knights had the honor of competing at state. They were senior Gerard Weyns, junior Angel Rojas and junior Jose Ponce.

Ponce scored team points by winning his second match. He dropped out by the closest of scores, 1-0, in his third match. Weyns and Rojas dropped two matches each.

This was the first year of wrestling for Weyns and Ponce. Miller thought they did "very well" making it to state. Rojas was in his second year.