Moses Lake's Tanguma looks to move up state podium as a sophomore

MOSES LAKE — The Class 4A 106-pound bracket at last season’s Mat Classic was one of the more competitive fields in the Tacoma Dome.

Taking a look at the placing matches: South Kitsap’s Xavier Eaglin edged Mead’s Chase Randall for the championship by one point, 9-8; Jacob Bennett of Lake Stevens outlasted fellow Wesco wrestler Cole Lance of Monroe, 9-4, for third place, and Pasco’s Nathaniel Tovar won a tight decision over Graham-Kapowsin’s Noah Cortez, 9-8, to finish fifth.

The most lopsided placing match featured a Moses Lake wrestler.

Freshman Jonathan Tanguma pinned Kentridge junior William Sirbu in the first round.

“When you look at that state tournament, you re-bracket that and throw it again, it changes,” head coach Jaime Garza said. “They were just all that close.”

That result might be a sign of things to come.

“I need to work a lot harder,” Tanguma said. “I thought I was good, but I really wasn’t. I needed to work a lot on more drilling, more stance and motion, and that’s what we’re doing right now, which I like.”

Tanguma took that assessment to heart, competing in freestyle wrestling in the off-season and cross country, with fellow wrestlers Melanie Flores and Matthew Humpherys, during the fall sports season.

“It really kept me in shape with my lungs, it helped with that, and it didn’t let me gas out like I did last year,” Tanguma said.

Tanguma, in addition to teammates Riley Burgess and Hunter White, is ranked in the Class 4A 120-pound weight class, according to Washington Wrestling Report. Tanguma is ranked second overall, trailing Auburn Riverside’s Yusef Nelson, who was the state runner-up at 113 pounds as a junior. Burgess and White are ranked sixth and seventh, respectively.

Do not ask Tanguma to regale any of those facts, though.

“It doesn’t matter where you’re ranked,” he said. “Someone’s going to put themselves out there, all they’ve got, and a number doesn’t change things.”

Tanguma, and the rest of the Chiefs, will have an opportunity to make an early statement when second-ranked Sunnyside visits Moses Lake in a season-opening dual on Dec. 5.

“I’m actually happy for it,” he said. “It gets our team working faster. We’re already worrying about positioning and working towards something.”