Quincy tourney closes girls wrestling season

QUINCY — The Richland girls wrestling team came out on top of the Quincy Bring Home Da Beef tournament on Saturday, followed by Royal, Moses Lake, Quincy and Prosser to round out the top five.

Ephrata and Othello tied for seventh place at Saturday’s tournament, and Wahluke placed 22nd.

“I think it’s a wonderful way to close out the season,” Quincy Head Coach Devan Silva said. “I know at this point in the season there are schools that can’t always compete, maybe their athletes are all too close to match limits or they need to take a break due to injury … but I think everyone that showed had a great time and ended the season out on a really positive note.”

Twenty-eight teams competed in the tournament over the weekend, which took place during the final week of the regular season. With districts just around the corner, this is the last time this season that wrestlers will go against teams from all classifications.

“I think the east side of the state, big school and small school, we have the higher quality of wrestling on this side of the state, and I really do believe that,” Moses Lake Head Coach David Peralez said. “The competition at Quincy – if we’re working on our stuff in practice, and doing it well and it's working out there at the Quincy tournament against some of these better schools, then that means we’re doing something right.”

Along with the name of the tournament being a nod to Grant County’s farming history, the winning team and individual wrestlers atop their weight classes received hamburgers for their wins.

“You literally bring home the beef,” Silva said.

With teams entering the postseason, it was also a great opportunity to clean up the minute details.

“It’s exciting because this is where we’re seeing all the hard work being put together,” Peralez said. “This is the last finishing touches of the things the wrestlers individually needed to work on going into postseason.”

The five local teams had 26 wrestlers reach the podium at the Bring Home Da Beef tournament, which Silva said gives the wrestlers a boost heading into postseason competition.

“Placing, regardless of if it was the place that you were looking to achieve or if it was still on the board but lower than you wanted, can make an athlete real hungry,” Silva said. “It’s a positive thing.”

One of the five Quincy wrestlers to place was sophomore Alondra Cordova, who took down Moses Lake senior Brianna Martinez in the third-place match of the 115-pound weight class.

“(Cordova) is very, very coachable,” Silva said. “She looks at me and says ‘I know I could have gotten her, I know I could have done it.’ To have that opportunity again at the end of the tournament, to prove it, and she went out there and it was a great match.”

Two Moses Lake wrestlers reached the finals, which were done under the spotlight in the Quincy High School gym. Freshmen Reese Prescott pinned Okanogan’s Afton Wood in the third round, and fellow freshman Elyssa Armendariz placed second in the 100-pound weight class.

“That’s the whole point of trying to build this program – we’re trying to feed more and more wrestlers like Reese (Prescott) and Elyssa (Armendariz) that are going to be the foundation of the future of this program,” Peralez said.

Local team scores and placings

Royal (second place, 129.5 points)

Moses Lake (third place, 121 points)

Quincy (fourth place, 99 points)

Ephrata (tied-seventh place, 83 points)

Othello (tied-seventh place, 83 points)

Wahluke (22nd place, 28 points)

100

Moses Lake freshman Elyssa Armendariz, second place

Othello freshman Janissa Barrera, third place

110

Wahluke senior Jocelyn Perez, third place

Royal junior Jara Rodriguez, fifth place

Wahluke senior Patty Guerrero, sixth place

115

Quincy sophomore Alondra Cordova, third place

Moses Lake senior Briana Martinez, fourth place

Ephrata sophomore Alondra Alcantar Reyes, fifth place

120

Moses Lake freshman Reese Prescott, first place

Royal junior Daisy Santiago, fourth place

Quincy sophomore Crystal Vargas, fifth place

125

Quincy freshman Hayden Morris, fourth place

130

Quincy junior Michelle Acevedo, second place

Moses Lake junior Gabriela Vela, fourth place

135

Quincy senior Ashley Rosas, fourth place

Ephrata junior Leslie Sanchez Guerrero, fifth place

140

Wahluke junior Angela Santiago, third place

Othello sophomore Jadira Perez, sixth place

145

Royal senior Alondra Morales, first place

Othello freshman Angela Monday, fifth place

155

Ephrata freshman Adylene Sanchez, fourth place

170

Royal junior Emma Villa, first place

Moses Lake sophomore Katelyn Rodriguez, fourth place

190

Othello junior Elia Velazquez, first place

235

Royal freshman Analy Castillo, third place

Othello freshman Alejandria Espindola, fourth place