Othello girls wrestling first at home invitational
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald Nikki Velazquez of Othello lost to Erin Redford of White River in the 130-pound championship match Saturday at the Lady Huskies Invitational in Othello.
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald Warden’s Angelica Vela pins teammate Kasy Ozuna in the consolation bracket match on Saturday at the Lady Huskies Invitational in Othello. Vela finished third in the 105-pound class
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald Melanie Flores of Moses Lake works to escape against Alexandra Puzon on Saturday in the championship of the 100-pound class at the Lady Huskies Invitational.
OTHELLO — Othello coach J.J. Martinez took the mic and turned emcee at the end of the night, handing out the medals at the podium at the Lady Huskies Invitational. The package to each individual champion included a medal, a T-shirt and a homemade burrito that looked like it weighed half as much at the 100-pound wrestlers in the audience.
The burrito was a nice touch, reminding the girls wrestling community of the La Familia they found with the Othello tournament.
The Othello girls crowned one champion in the two-day tournament and one runner-up, but how the Huskies won the Lady Husky Invitational was with depth points. It was those fifth, sixth and seventh place girls that helped put Othello on the top shelf and the end of the day.
“We’ve been doing this for a long a time and actually never placed in our own tournament. So that was a great motivation to the girls to make it to the top and come out first,” Martinez said.
“We’re all chasing that one goal and this side of the state has some mean and nasty girls who can wrestle, so this was a good way for us to see where we stack up.”
Othello’s Kaylee Martinez was a real headhunter, blowing through the 140-pound division with four pins, to give the Huskies their only champion. Martinez pinned Maria Enriquez of Kiona-Benton just 45 seconds into the championship match to complete the perfect storm as temperatures dropped and snow swooped into Columbia Basin one more time.
Martinez pinned Jewel Sinclair of Eastmont (57 seconds) in her first match. She came back with another pin, Estrella Pulgarin from Wapato (2:10). She had to go a little longer in the semifinal before turning Taylor Strozyk of Wilbur-Creston-Keller (3:40) and put the finishing touches on the title with one last pin in under a minute in the title match.
Moses Lake’s Melanie Flores wrestled for a championship at 100 pounds. She was pinned by Alexandria Puzon of Enumclaw, but finished second in a tough field.
Erin Redford of White River showed the Columbia Basin why she was fourth at the Asics/Vaughan Junior Greco-Roman Nationals in Fargo, N.D., last July, beating Othello’s Nikki Velazquez for the 130-pound title at the Lady Husky Invitational. Redford, who is headed to Oklahoma State on a scholarship, was just too strong, with too much national tournament experience, but Velazquez held her own in a 11-4 loss.
“(Redford’s) an amazing person and I’ve known her for a long time. Everybody’s kind of afraid of her, but I enjoy the challenge,” said Velazquez, who is the top-ranked 130-pounder in the Washington Wrestling Report. “I could have wrestled a little bit better, but she really dominated like she dominates everyone.
“Wrestling in the finals of this tournament means a lot. We have a lot of top teams in girls wrestling on this side of the state and they were all here.”
Angelica Vela placed third at 105 and Monica Canales was third at 125 to lead the Warden girls to a seventh-place finish in the 59-school field.
“I thought we wrestled well, but we could have done better. We faced a lot of tough girls here, but I thought we wrestled with confidence,” said Warden coach Valerie Hernandez. “We need to be challenged so that we can get better.”
Ephrata placed in the top half, finishing 25th overall. Quincy was 28th, Royal placed 31st and Moses Lake was 33rd.
Lightweight (100-130) Outstanding wrestler: Cameron Guerin, Davis. Heavier weight (135-235) Outstanding wrestler: Emma Bruntil, Mt. Baker. Sportsmanship winner: Nikki Valazquez, Othello.
Team scores: 1. Othello, 212. 2, Non Scorers, 161. 3. Sunnyside, 144.5. 4. Aberdeen, 144. 5. Decatur, 112. 6. White River, 103. 7. Warden, 101. 8. Mr. Baker, 96. 9. Kiona Benton, 86. 10. Lynden, 81. 11. Wilson, 76. 12. Steilacoom, 73.5. 13, Granger, 67. 14. Davis, 59. 15. Eastmont, 58. 16. Burlington-Edison, 56. 17. Riverview, 56. 18. Enumclaw, 55. 19. West Valley, 51. 20. Newport, 47. 21. Wahluke, 43. 22. Grandview, 42. 23. Toppenish, 40. 24. Connell, 36. 25. Ephrata, 36. 26. Pasco, 35. 27. Hanford, 32. 28. Quincy, 31. 29. Naches Valley, 30. 30. Prosser, 28. 31. Royal, 27. 32. Lakeside, 27. 33. Moses Lake, 26. 34. Zillah, 26. 35. Bellingham, 25. 36. Wapato, 24. 37. Ellensburg, 23. 38. Wilbur, 22. 39. Kamiakin, 20. 40. Sehome, 16. 41. Chiwana, 16. 42. Wenatchee, 16.43. Port Angeles, 15. 44. Cashmere, 14. 45. Squalicum, 13. 46. Mary Walker, East Valley, 13. 48. Todd Beamer, 12. 49. Highland, 11. 50. Burbank, 8. 51. Republic, 6. 52. Richland, 6. 53. Kennewick, 4. 54. Liberty Bell, 4. 55. Parma, 0. 56. Lakeside, 0. 57. West Valley, 0. 58. Toledo, 0. 59. Wilbur-Creston, 0.
Local placers
100 pounds: 2. Melanie Flores, Moses Lake. 6. Gabriela Rodriguez, Othello
105: 3. Angelica Vela, Warden. 5. Emily Mendez, Othello
110: 5. Mariah Garza, Warden. 6. Denise Guerra, Othello
115: 4. Iyalhye Barraza, Othello. 7. Alexis Mendoza, Warden.
120: 5. Sienna Stocking, Ephrata. 6. Rose Gutierrez, Othello
125: 3. Monica Canales, Warden. 4. Ruby Villalobos, Othello
130: 2. Nikki Velazquez, Othello
135: 5. Elizabeth Giles, Othello.
140: 1. Kaylee Martinez, Othello
145: 7. Mariah Deleon, Othello
170: 5. Victoria Mendoza, Othello
190: 3. Estephania Vargas, Othello