Moses Lake second at districts, crown eight champions

YAKIMA — Leading up to the postseason, assistant wrestling coach Ron Seibel told the team it would need 20 wrestlers to compete for a district championship.

Moses Lake had half of that number in the finals, but only three consolation placers.

And in the end, Sunnyside’s depth proved to be the difference in ending Moses Lake’s reign as district champion. Th Grizzlies held a 10-point advantage in the team standings for much of the two-day tournament before opening up a 56-point lead heading into finals.

After crowning eight champions, the Chiefs made up some ground but succumbed to the Grizzlies 400-361.5.

It was a true clash of the titans as no other team eclipsed 200 points.

“We’ve won this tournament three years in a row and not to win is somewhat upsetting, but I had a feeling ... we want to win them all, but on the other hand I’m much more concerned with sending the right number of guys and it played out the way I wanted,” head coach Jaime Garza said. “It would’ve been nice to get a couple more.”

The Chiefs advanced 11 wrestlers to next week’s regional tournament at University in Spokane: Jesus Cornejo (106), Nick Hara (120), Cooper McCullough (132), Hunter Cruz (138), Cyrus Knoll (152), Joel Torres (160), Hudson Mauseth (170), Dylan Morris (182), Daiman Vasquez (195), Payton Castro (220) and Chandler Fluaitt (285),

Knoll finished third and was the one Chief to work his way into regionals through the backdoor after losing in the semifinals.

Moses Lake began the final round with seven straight wins.

Cornejo edged Sunnyside’s Jose Campos 5-2 with take downs in the first and third round.

“Jesus wrestled a great kid and although he was a freshman he was highly touted so I’m pleased with the way he wrestled,” Garza said.

Tied 1-1 entering the third round, Hara chose the neutral position and conceded one points to Jacob Mendoza of Sunnyside. Needing a take down to take the lead, Hara got much more after he slammed Mendoza onto his back near the edge of the mat for a near-fall and five points.

From that point, Hara salted the match away fro a 6-3 victory.

McCullough came out aggressive in his match against Julian Alonso and narrowly won by fall in the first round, but time expired. McCullough would go on to win 12-1.

Cruz’s 12-4 victory over Davis’ Emiliano Mata made the Chiefs four for four in the district finals.

Wrestling at the same time, Torres and Mauseth each completed three-peats at districts against Cadets. Torres defeated Juan Rivera 9-2 and Mauseth edged Raul Jimenez 5-3.

“It feels good that me working so hard in practice pays off,” Mauseth said. “Especially now.”

Morris made it seven for seven with a narrow 4-3 win over Ike’s Rafael Suarez. Tied 2-2, Morris recorded a crucial reversal to take a 4-2 lead.

Vasquez was the first loss for Moses Lake in the district finals. Down 1-0 against Davis’ Christian Reyes in the final round, Vasquez was unable to get up from the bottom to score a match-tying escape point.

Castro was Moses Lake’s final champion, taking care of business with a pin of Sunnyside’s Jector Ramirez in the first round.

Fluaitt looked to be heading to regionals as a No. 1 seed as he cradled Wenatchee’s Tomas Benjume in the second round. However, Benjume was able to free himself and Fluaitt found himself on his back.

Unable to overcome the mistake, Fluaitt was pinned.

Although the disappointment of finishing second lingered, Moses Lake knows that 11 wrestlers with eight No. 1 seeds will be a formidable group at regionals. Sunnyside advances 14 wrestlers while Central Valley will have 12.

“Eight out of 10 wins; that means we’re going to get some nice seeds going into next weekend and it’s going to set us up,” Garza said. “Eight guys at a one seed; we should be going through.”

Othello runner-up at CWAC district tournament

ELLENSBURG — Othello crowned three district champions and finished second to Toppenish at the CWAC district tournament in Ellensburg.

Toppenish amassed 390 points to Othello’s 271.5. Quincy edged Selah and Ephrata for fifth place with 124 points. Ephrata finished seventh with 123 points.

Alejandro Cardenas (126), Abel Gomez (170) and Anthony Ruiz (195) were all district champions for the Huskies. Chris Melo (106) and Reese Jones (160) finished second.

Quincy had a pair of runner-ups in Iche Ramirez (182) and Rey Rubio (285). Ephrata’s Rolo Reyes (220) finished second.

Warden first at districts

SPRINGDALE — Warden totaled 287.5 points to claim first place at its district tournament.

The Cougars had 13 placers and eight champions. Rodrigo Ozuna (120), Tyson Yamane (126), Josiah Guerra (132), Connor Massa (138), Peter Manville (152), Raul Martinez (160), Tyrone Mendez (182) and Mikey Hernandez (285) finished first.

Bryce Martinez (113) and Robert Arredondo (170) were runner-ups.

Osvaldo Dominguez (113), Johnny Martinez (120) and Tommy Pruneda (195) took third.

Boys swimming

Moses Lake’s Noah Heaps headed to state meet

MOSES LAKE — Freshman Noah Heaps finished second in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2 minutes, 5.49 seconds to earn an automatic berth to the state meet in Federal Way.

The three-day district meet at Moses Lake High School was dominated by Wenatchee who finished first in the team standings with 478 points. Richland tallied 331 points and Walla Walla totaled 270.

Heaps also finished sixth in the 500 freestyle.

Kyle Jorgensen and Ander Molitor finished seventh and ninth, respectively in the 50 freestyle. However, Molitor’s time in the finals of 23.10 seconds would’ve placed third overall for a state berth. But a mistake during his preliminary race on Thursday cost Molitor a spot in the championship final.

Quincy’s Riley Beaumont advanced in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Beaumont was district champion in the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.18 seconds.

Othello’s Hunter Sparks took third in the 100 butterfly.