Two sides of a coin

MOSES LAKE — The first Columbia Basin Big Nine dual meet of the young 2022-23 wrestling season ended in a 54-24 win over Sunnyside for the Moses Lake girls wrestling team, and a 55-18 loss to Sunnyside for the boys wrestlers.

Maverick girls

At least seven Maverick wrestlers pinned their opponents in a match that took less than an hour. Second-year Coach David Peralez said he was pleased with his team’s approach.

“The first thing I love is our aggressiveness,” he said. “That’s something going into the second year that we’re really trying to focus on.”

Mavericks Elyssa Armendo Ruiz (105), Ashley Narenjo (120), Brianna Martinez (125), Bianca Johnson (135), Lakailey Rodriguez (140) Kathryn Pugh (145) and Katelyn Rodriguez (170) all won their matches by pinning their opponent, known in wrestling as a fall.

“A lot of it also has to do with their confidence,” Peralez said. “I have a lot of wrestlers that this is their first year. And so I understood how to set the practices to build that confidence and aggressiveness. And I think that’s what showed tonight, being super-aggressive on their feet and just taking those shots, and dictating the match and the tempo.”

Being aggressive, he said, is a key to success in wrestling.

“I think that’s a huge factor in wrestling. In wrestling, you have to have this mindset that you’re going to take anyone down. I don’t care if it’s a state champion that is lined up across from you, you have to have that identity that you’re going to be aggressive that steps out on that mat,” Peralez said.

This early in the season there are still things that need work, he said.

“A lot of the newer wrestlers, there are so many little fundamental mistakes that we made. And there are a lot of things that we can clean up and get even better at. Things were pretty decent out there, but (there were) things that we can improve at. There’s not just one area I’m kind of focused on, I saw a lot of areas where we can improve,” he said.

“But we’re not that far off. I think that by the way we looked tonight, by the end of the year we’ll be looking just fine,” he said.

Maverick boys

Sunnyside is the top-ranked team in the state, and first-year Coach Jose Tanguma said the match provided a chance for his very young team to evaluate their progress.

“Against the number-one ranked team in the state right now - it’s something to see where we’re at, and where we need to get to. So it’s a good eye-opener.”

Dayton Reagan (152) pinned his opponent, and Brock Clark (170) was working to pin his opponent when time ran out in the third period, allowing John Rendon of Sunnyside to escape with a 2-0 win.

“I know a lot of the kids were kind of worried (because) we were facing the number one team. But I told the kids, we’re at the bottom right now. We’ve got to work ourselves up. And we want to start with Sunnyside. We’re not going to run away from them - we’re going to see them a lot. And we’re just going to keep improving,” Tanguma said.

The Maverick wrestlers didn’t give up, he said.

“I like that my guys were still in the fight; they were being aggressive. We’re very young right now,” he said.

The team needs more practice, he said, and more work on technique.

“More time in the (wrestling) room,” Tanguma said. “More mat time. We’re doing a lot of live wrestling now, putting kids in uncomfortable situations during the match, have them fight out of those positions, learn from that experience. Keeping the pressure on the opponent, not backing away from the opponent.”

Correction: The athlete in the lead photo for this story was initially misidentified in the caption. That error has been appended in the caption above.