Columbia Basin 2A wrestling programs ready to challenge Toppenish for the top spot
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin HeraldOthello's Chris Melo is coming off a disappointing season last year when he broke his collar bone in the regional tournament. The Huskies 106-pounder is a contender again this year.
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin HeraldEphrata 106-pounder Sammy Flores is coming off a fourth-place finish at ther 2016-17 Mat Classic and ready to lead the Tigers.
When you wrestle in the Central Washington Athletic Conference all roads go through Toppenish on the Confederated Tribes of the Yakama reservation.
Want to get out of the CWAC? You have to go through Toppenish. Want to qualify for state? You have to go through two-time defending state champion Toppenish at the 2A regional meet.
That being said, the rest of the CWAC is ready to take on the challenges of a new season.
“The kids are excited and they’re definitely working hard, that’s for sure,” said Othello coach Rudy Ochoa II, whose Huskies are coming off a sixth-place finish at the Mat Classic a year ago. “We’re excited with this young, hungry group. We do conditioning stuff in the morning and there’s been perfect attendance. Then they’re there in the afternoon to work on technique. We should be a pretty decent dual team.”
The young Ephrata Tigers hit the ground running, working hard in the room and building confidence, coach PJ Anderson said.
“Our guys are hard-nosed, in-your-face wrestlers,” said Anderson, who is headed into his 16th season, eight as the head coach. “I can already see that emerging out of them. We hit the ground running and the kids were ready to go Day 1. We’ve been drilling at a real quick pace right out the gate.”
The Quincy Jacks are up-and-comers in the CWAC, coming off a summer of wrestling camps and working in the room.
“A lot of our guys worked hard in the summer knowing we needed to work to get better,” said Quincy coach Greg Martinez. “We have two, three former wrestlers wrestling at Gray’s Harbor College, including Raul Barajas, who finished sixth at state last year. Over the summer, I had several go over and spend a week-and-a-half wrestling with the team (at Gray’s Harbor). It’s really nice to see they’re taking it upon themselves to get better.”
The road to Toppenish starts now.
Othello
The Huskies return state-placer Isaiah Perez (hwt, soph), Chris Melo (106, sr.), Jeremy Mendez (126, sr.) and DJ Guzman (195, sr.), all with state wrestling experience to build the core around.
“The sixth-place finish last year at state, we feel we’re a better team than that,” Ochoa II said. “For the returners, there’s some unfinished business and they’re embracing the pressure.”
They also return Bernie Garza Jr. (160, jr.) and Jaxon Rocha (120, soph.), so they have a talented base. They are deep in several weights and the rest will be sorted out through wrestle-offs.
The Huskies will open at the Moses Lake Jamboree on Tuesday, then hit the Bob Mars Invitational in Kennewick on Dec. 2. They home opener is a dual with East Valley on Dec. 7.
Ephrata
The Tigers return state-placer Sammy Flores (106, jr.), who was the highest Columbia Basin 2A state placer last year with a fourth-place finish at 106. They also return 6-foot-5 Efrain Bedolla (hwt, sr.), Will Anderson (145, soph.), Clay Johns (120, jr.), Corbin Sager (160, soph.) and Eli Guevara (220, jr.).
“We only lost three out of the 14-man lineup, but we were extremely young last year,” Anderson said. “The good news is we have a lot of kids coming back with varsity experience. We’re going to be a salty, young team.”
The Tigers open at Moses Lake Jamboree on Tuesday, then hit the Davis Invite on Dec. 2. Their home opener is Dec. 7 against Quincy.
Quincy
The Jacks will welcome back Tanner Bushman (120, jr.), who was a state placer for Kamiakin last year. He moved away his freshman season, but is back to help lead a young Quincy team.
They also return Victor Tafoya (170, sr.), Jerry Hodges (182/192, sr.), Ray Robinson (182, sr.).
“Our junior class has been wrestling freestyle in the summer over the past three or four years and really working hard,” Martinez said. “I have a group of five to six juniors that I’m really excited to see what they can do now that they’re upperclassmen.”
Quincy opens at Warden on Nov. 30, then heads to the Davis Invite on Dec. 2.
Rodney Harwood is a sports writer for the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com