Royal, Wahluke qualify wrestlers for boys state tournament

ROYAL — Two Royal High School wrestlers and one Wahluke High School wrestler will be going to the state tournament Friday and Saturday. They qualified by placing at the regional tournament Feb. 12 in Royal.

Kevin Dominguez, Royal, finished second in the 285-pound weight class, while Kaleb Hernandez, also of Royal, finished fourth in the 170-pound weight class. Wahluke’s Anthony Zebrano finished sixth in the 220-pound weight class.

Three Royal wrestlers will be going as alternates: Brian Hernandez at 160 pounds, Clinton Garnick at 182 pounds and Seth Yorgerson at 220 pounds.

Royal coach Darrin Miller said he knew it would be a tough tournament.

“We lost some close matches,” he said.

Throughout the season his team put in a lot of work and learned a lot, he said. He was proud of his team performance and work ethic and for their overall improvement, he said.

It was the first season at the high school level for Wahluke’s head coach Jose Marin.

“It was definitely a very interesting season,” Marin said.

The Warriors were a young team with a lot of underclassmen, many of them new to wrestling, he said. Overall the team had a good season, although the competition gets tougher during districts and regionals. Three wrestlers qualified for regionals.

“Next year we’ll be a little bit stronger,” he said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.