Columbia Basin wrestlers hold their own at the Royal Rumble wrestling tournament

ROYAL CITY — Reardon came ready to rumble, eking out a championship by virtue of pins Wednesday at the Royal Rumble wrestling tournament.

Reardon and Tonasket were even across the board in terms of finalists, placers, wins, loses, but Reardon’s 16 pins gave them the separation needed to hold off Tonasket 184.5-174 to win the 15-team holiday tournament.

Royal’s Eduardo Rodriguez won the championship at 126 and teammate Abraham Medina was the 132-pound champion to lead Knights to fourth place. Ephrata’s Sammy Flores was the top 106-pounder, pinning Ryan Marcil of Castle Rock in the title bout to help the Tigers to a fifth-place showing in an impressive 2A and 1A field. Warden 220-pounder Robert Arredondo won a championship and Cougars finished just out of the trophy round in seventh place.

“Winning this tournament is a big deal,” said Rodriguez, who pinned Trey Matarazzo of Kiona-Benton. “Everybody I know is here. My family’s here. I wanted to wrestle hard for them and winning the championship is a bonus.”

With three Columbia Basin teams in the house, the last wrestling tournament of 2016 was a showcase for friends and family as much as it was a chance to go into the new year with some momentum.

Rodriguez said he’s always looking for the pin and Wednesday, he caught Matarazzo for his third pin of the tournament.

“I try to pick my spots, but I’m always looking for the pin,” he said. “I define myself as a guy that wrestles with heart. I use my conditioning and my technique, but I think my heart is the reason why I’m successful. Sometimes you can pin them and sometimes you have to go all six minutes and that’s how you can tell who has the biggest heart.”

Rodriguez gave the Knights their first championship of the afternoon. One match later, Medina made it a one-two punch with a major decision over Christian Monzingo with a 13-4 decision at 132.

“I knew this guy was strong, so I wanted to be the aggressor,” Medina said. “I used my speed to stay in front. Winning this tournament is a big thing to me. My goal was to take first. It was just one match at a time and staying focused.

“In the championship, I wanted to make sure I took the first shot and stayed aggressive. Once I got the lead, I was thinking tech fall.”

Flores was the first Columbia Basin champion of the night, wrestling in the first match. He pinned his way to the title with three straight pins, including Marsil.

“I wanted to get it over quick,” Flores said. “On the pin, I came off the top (in the referee’s position). He gave me his arm, so I just kind of took it. My objective was to pin everybody and that’s what I did.

“I’ve never been in a final like this, so to win this tournament means a lot to me. I was born and raised in Ephrata, so it means a lot to represent my team and my town like this.”

Arredondo had to go to overtime to beat J.W. Merriott of Reardon, but the Warden 220-pounder finally got his shot in the extra time and made it count.

“I knew that once I got to overtime, my conditioning would give me the advantage,” Arredondo said. “I knew I’d be able to get a trip in. It feels good to win this one. I have a lot of people here watching and it’s important.”

Team scores — 1, Reardon, 184.5. 2, Tonasket, 174. 3, Castle Rock 156. 4, Royal, 143. 5, Ephrata, 140. 6, Chelan, 134, 7. Warden, 100. 8. Chewelah, 89.5. 9, Riverside, 67. 10, Cle Elum, 52. 11, Kiona Benton, 50.5. 12, Riverview, 40. 13, Newport, 24.5. 14, Liberty Bell, 24. Columbia Burbank, 13. Local champions 103 — Sammy Flores, Ephrata 126 — Eduardo Rodriguez, Royal 132 — Abraham Medina, Royal 220 — Robert Arredondo, Warden Local placers 113 — 3. Clay Johns, Ephrata 120 — 2. Anthony Martinez, Warden 145 — 5. Addin Felker, Royal 152 — 4. Daniel Bonilla, Royal 170 — 2. Cole Spencer, Ephrata 182 — 5. Tyrone Mendez, Warden. 6. Mac Laird, Ephrata 195 — 3. Drew Anderson, Ephrata. 4. Jose Jimenez, Royal 220 — 3. Eli guevara, Ephrata 285 — 3. Martin Dominguez, Warden. 4. Efrain Bedolla, Ephrata