Royal, Wahluke wrestlers advance to girls state tournament

EPHRATA — Royal wrestler Alondra Morales won a regional championship, and the Knights qualified a second wrestler for the girls state wrestling tournament in regional competition Saturday in Ephrata.

Wahluke High School also qualified a wrestler for the tournament.

Morales won the title in the 140-pound class. Emma Villa, 155 pounds, took second place. Mariangela Gonzalez, of Wahluke, finished fifth in the 150-pound class.

Royal finished 12th in regional competition, scoring 55 points. Royal had finished fourth in sub-district competition the previous weekend, with five wrestlers qualifying for regionals.

Royal head coach Jesus Carlos Villa said he was pleased with his team’s showing at regionals.

“They just wrestled really tough. They just didn’t quit,” he said.

Villa said he’s confident both his wrestlers will do well at state, and in his opinion will contend for individual titles.

“I’m not scared to say that,” he said.

Both are two of the better wrestlers in their weight classes in the state, he said, and both have been putting in a lot of work.

Villa said he was encouraged by his team’s showing throughout the season. He started with 18 wrestlers, 11 of which finished the season.

“First and foremost, we’re just happy to be able to have a season, with everything going on around us,” he said in an earlier interview.

He told his team it wasn’t how many times they got their hand raised, he said, but how much they improved over the season.