Huskies place fourth at East Valley
Bob Kirkpatrick/The Sun Tribune - Isaiah Perez has Pullman’s Detrik Mueller wrapped up like a pretzel in the 295-pound championship match. Perez pinned Mueller and vindicated an earlier season loss to him at the Tri-State Tournament.
Bob Kirkpatrick/The Sun Tribune - Chris Melo pins back the left arm of Wapato’s Uriel Garcia in the 106-pound championship bout. Melo took an 8-5 decision and continued his dominance on the mats.
SPOKANE VALLEY — Coach Rudy Ochoa II said it was going to be a dogfight at the 2A Regional Tournament and he was spot on as some of the best wrestlers in the state went toe-to-toe in search of a berth to the annual Mat Classic Championships at the Tacoma Feb. 16-17.
When it was all said and done Othello crowned two champions in Chris Melo (106) and Isaiah Perez (285) and had one third-place finisher and three wrestlers place fourth at the daylong event that took over 10 hours to complete.
“I thought we wrestled tough. We lost some matches we felt we could’ve won, but the boys bounced back,” Ochoa said. “Chris and Isaiah wrestled well again. Isaiah had lost to the Pullman kid (Detrik Mueller) at the Tri-State tournament so it was nice to see him come back and get the win.”
Making the trip over the hill representing Othello along with Melo and Perez are Bernie Garza Jr. who placed third at 160; and fourth place finishers Juan Martinez (145), Easton Roylance (152) and DJ Guzman (195).
Toppenish was the top cat in this battle royal as the Wildcats racked up 195.5 points. Host East Valley came in second with 136. Wapato was third with 120.5. Othello was a close fourth with 117.5.
“We thought we would be right around where we were as a team but were hoping to get a couple more into the state tournament,” Ochoa said. “But we had a couple of crucial matches we felt the ref took out of our hands but that happens.”
Team scores: Toppenish 195.5, East Valley (Spokane) 136, Wapato 120.5, Othello 117.5, Selah 87, Cheney 83, Ephrata 77, West Valley 63, Ellensburg 61, Pullman 55.5, Prosser 50, Quincy 44, Clarkston 36, East Valley (Yakima) 13.