The Knight's place six at Mat Classic XXX
Bob Kirkpatrick/The Sun Tribune - Royal’s Dominic Martinez turned in an outstanding tournament with a second-place at 113. Martinez dominated his first two matches, won a close 3-2 semifinal decision, and then dropped the championship match by a point.
Bob Kirkpatrick/The Sun Tribune - Knights Eduardo Rodriguez and Medical Lakes Ethan Davis in semifinal action.
Bob Kirkpatrick/The Sun Tribune - Royal's Kevin Pastor picks up a 5-4 win over the Leopards Eric De La Rosa.
Bob Kirkpatrick/The Sun Tribune - The Knight's Dominic Martinez lost a lot of blood during his match with Chewlah's Justyce Acosta.
TACOMA — A second place finish at the SCAC East District Tournament and a third place showing at the 1A Regional Tournament at Castle Rock had the Knights primed for a solid shot at medaling at the Mat Classic over the weekend.
Royal didn’t disappoint with six-of-nine wrestlers placing at the annual competition, but the team came up a hair shy of a task that was established at the beginning of the year.
“One of our team goals was to finish in the Top 10 this season,” coach Patrick Mitchell said. “But we came up 10 points short and finished 12th.”
Mitchell felt good about placing six wrestlers, but had hoped to get a couple more in the medal rounds.
“I would have liked to have seen a couple of the wrestlers place higher,” he said. “But unfortunately we had a couple of injuries during the tournament that didn’t allow a couple of wrestlers to continue, even though they still placed in the Top 8.”
The Knights top finisher was Dominic Martinez who came up shy of a state championship in a 3-2 loss to Jeff Friedman from Lakeside.
“Dominic had a great freshmen tournament making it all the way to the finals,” Mitchell said. “Our seniors Jose Galindo, Eduardo Rodriguez and Kevin Pastor all finished their wrestling careers leaving a great legacy for the younger wrestlers in our room to build on.”
Rodriguez (132) suffered an injury in an earlier match and lost by default in his match with Reuben Seeman from Colville to finish sixth as did Kevin Pastor who was turned back 3-1 by Zillah’s Wade Koerner at 138. Daniel Bonilla (145) blanked Cascade’s Daniel Claros 9-0, and Lorenzo Myrick (152) shutout Skyler Isaacson from Mt. Baker 3-0, to place seventh in their weight classifications. Ryder Eilers suffered an injury default loss in his match with Deer Park’s Tytan Duncan to place eighth at 285.
Despite finishing just outside the Top 10, the team is stacked with battle-tested warriors with enough talent to reach the upper echelon in 2018.
“We’ll have four state placers returning next year, including state finalist Dominic Martinez, 7th placers Daniel Bonilla and Lorenzo Myrick, and 8th place Ryder Eilers. We also bring back two freshmen that competed in the tournament Yahir Morales and Benjamin Bustos,” Mitchell said. “Ultimately, I’m proud of all the hard work and support from our coaches Carlos Villa and Alex Myrick, as well as our great parents and community members who helped us out all year long. We look forward to another exciting season next year.”
Top 12 Team Scores
(1). Deer Park, 159. (2). Colville, 136. (3). Freeman, 116. (4). Forks, 111. (5).Granger, 105. (6). Zillah, 159. (7). Connell, 91. (8). Lakeside (9-Mile Falls), 80. (9). Warden, 76. 9. (10). Montesano, 73. (11). Castle Rock, 68. (12). Royal, 63.5.