Johns, Spencer lead a salty Ephrata group to the Tacoma Dome
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin HeraldEphrata heavyweight Efrain Bedolla tries to escape the clutches of Dietrik Mueller of Pullman during the 285-pound semifinal match on Saturday at the 2A Region 4 tournament in Spokane.
EPHRATA — Tiger junior Clay Johns picked his spot well, opened up his game and put together one of his best tournaments of the season last week in winning the 2A Region 4 championship at 113 pounds.
Johns finished third in one of the toughest weight classes at the CWAC District Tournament and was expected to slip into the Mat Classic XXX field with either the third or fourth seed. But the Ephrata junior rose to the occasion in the regional championship beating Jacob Torres of Prosser 4-1 to punch his ticket to the state tournament as the No. 1 seed out of Region 4.
“The two boys have wrestled each other a few times this year and they knew they really had to work for everything. Clay did a good job of opening things,” Ephrata coach PJ Anderson said. “It was actually a good match for him to have. Now, we can clean some of those small things up before we’re actually in the Dome.
“To have a champion really does mean something for our program. It’s a long road in all these weights and Clay really hit stride when he needed to.”
The Ephrata boys qualified four and the Tiger girls will have two move on to the elite level on the state’s highest level.
“To have four boys and two girls move on is about what we expected,” Anderson said. “This is a tough region, so you have to make sure you’re in the right place, doing the right thing. Sometimes you have to get on your toes and run guys over when the opportunity’s there.”
Anderson was quick to point out the top four in Region 4 have gone on to finish in the top four at the Mat Classic. Being seeded No. 4 going in is not necessarily a bad thing.
“There’s a lot of good wrestling in Region 4,” he said. “We have a couple of days to get ready for the best in the state.”
Mac Laird came through an exceptional 195-pound weight class and goes into the state tournament with some momentum. Sammy Flores is in one of the toughest weight classes no matter what the classification. Flores had to deal with Chris Melo (Othello), Uriel Garcia (Wapato) and Andy Pimentel (Selah) just to get out of his region. He goes into the Classic as the No. 4 seed from Region 4.
The same held true for Tiger heavyweight Efrain Bedolla. The 285-pound division on this side included Isaiah Perez from Othello and Dietrik Mueller from Pullman. Bedolla goes in as the No. 3 seed.
“Efrain did what he needed to. Everyone wants to win, but ultimately the idea is to punch your ticket into the Dome and that’s what he did.” Anderson said.
Ephrata state qualifiers include: Sammy Flores (106), Clay Johns (113), Mac Laird (195) and Efrain Bedolla (285).
Ephrata girls
Mya Spencer could only hope to learn a little something from a girl that won two matches and lost two matches to place fifth at the Junior World Wrestling Championships in Tampere, Finland last summer.
Needless to say, Spencer’s 125-pound regional championship bout against Cameron Guerin of Davis was anything but educational, more like survival. Guerin, who was also the Junior Pan Am champion earlier this past summer, was just too experienced and too strong for the Central Washington Girls Wrestling League wrestler of the year. But a 10-0 loss to a wrestler who’s competed on the world stage can only make her better.
“It was a great experience for Mya because she found she can wrestle with a kid of that caliber,” Anderson said. “Just the fact that she was in position to score says a lot. She just has to clean up some little things to be able to finish.
“If there’s anybody out there that can get Guerin at the Dome, I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t Mya.”
Tiger teammate Sienna Stocking is wrestling extremely well at this point in the season and will join the best when the girls 115-pounders decide their champion.
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