BASIN WRESTLING REPORT: ACH, Warden host tournaments

COLUMBIA BASIN — It was another weekend of wrestling competitions across the state, including local tournaments in Coulee City and Warden. 

Banks Lake Brawl, Coulee City

Saturday’s Banks Lake Brawl had 22 boys and girls wrestling teams travel to Almira/CouleeHartline, competing in both round-robin and full bracket-style matches across the weight classes.

“We build those round-robin brackets to try and get as many kids as many matches as possible,” ACH head coach Brandon Walsh said. “It’s a good time of the year to try and get kids matches.”

Of the local placings, the Warriors had four wrestlers finish on the podium; junior Jack Molitor (120, third place), freshman Porter Wood (138, fourth), senior Everett Wood (157, first) and sophomore Evan Tipps (175, third). 

“Everett wrestled really well, he’s a tough kid,” Walsh said. “He’s undefeated on the season so far, and (Saturday), he wrestled great. Jack Molitor wrestled really well, ended up in third place; had a close match in the semifinals, and if he would have won that, he would’ve been going for first or second and would have had a great shot to win that too. They wrestled well (Saturday).”

With postseason wrestling just around the corner, Walsh said the Warriors need to get back to being able-bodied in the coming weeks; six Warrior wrestlers missed Saturday’s tournament.

“We’ve got to get healthy,” Walsh said. “I had six kids not wrestle (Saturday) from our roster, three or four of them were out sick and a couple kids coming off of injuries that are lingering from football. They’re cleared to practice right now and we’ll get them back here in the next week or two. Hopefully, we can get all that behind us here in the next few weeks and see what we can make out of the postseason.”

Lind-Ritzville/Sprague came out on top of the tournament, scoring 160 team points and seeing 10 wrestlers place; Octavio Paredes-Martinez (113, third), senior Alexander Bonner (132/138B, first), Carson Kubik (144, third), Turner Slack (144/150 B, third), senior Travis Redburn (175, second), senior Traye Redburn (190, first), senior John Branham (190, second), senior Gabe Smith (215, second) and junior Brock Tracy (285, first). LRS junior Emy Klewin placed first in the girls 170-pound bracket.

Jeremiah Schmunk Invitational, Warden

Tonasket and St. Maries finished first and second at Saturday’s Jeremiah Schmunk Invitational in Warden, though Basin squads rounded out the remainder of the top five teams; Othello (166 points) took third, followed by the host Warden (147.5) in fourth and Moses Lake (144) in fifth. Wahluke (28 points) took 14th. 

“We had St. Maries, from Idaho, come down and had the defending (1B/2B) state champions Tonasket in the gym,” Warden head coach Johnny Hernandez said. “It was really cool to have Othello and Moses Lake have their kids come down. It made it a really good tournament.”

Warden had eight wrestlers place; senior Jose Arriaga (120, second), junior Michael Gonzalez (126, third), senior Manny Canales (126, sixth), junior Junior Santiago (144, third), sophomore Gustavo Canales (157, third), sophomore Valentin Juarez (190, fifth) and senior Omar Pruneda (215, fifth).

“We had a team that put out 16 wrestlers for the weekend, which we hadn’t done since the beginning of the year,” Hernandez said. “It was good to start getting everybody back and back on the right track.”

Finishing off the Cougar placements was senior Anthony Contreras, who won the 285-pound bracket at Saturday’s tournament.

“He’s the heavyweight, so he gets the last match of the night and gives everybody something to smile about when they go home,” Hernandez said. 

Warden travels to Okanogan for a dual Tuesday at 7 p.m. Hernandez said the biggest takeaway from this week was making sure the team regroups after the holiday break.

“This was the first time we’ve been together in about three weeks,” Hernandez said. “Just getting the kids back on the tracks and pushing towards the end of the year. We’ve got to get our conditioning back up; I really believe we can make some noise if we can push through and peak at the right time.”

Othello’s 12 placers were the most among local teams; freshman Conner Gilbert (106, fourth), junior Christopher Garcia (113, second), freshman Austyn Miller (113, fifth), freshman Jeremiah Vargas (113, sixth), freshman Emmanuel Ayala Jr. (120, sixth), senior Marcos Zuniga (132, fifth), junior Ismael Torres (138, fourth), junior Nathaniel Montemayor (138, fifth), freshman Armoni Zuniga-Mendez (150, sixth), junior Jeremiah Flores (157, fourth), junior Parker Freeman (165, second) and sophomore Josue Espindola (285, second).

The Mavs also had eight wrestlers reach the podium Saturday; freshman Duane Zamora (120, first) freshman Trenton Vasquez (132, fourth), junior Jesse Humpherys (144, fourth), junior Wyatt Cole (157, sixth), sophomore Jesus Garcia (165, sixth), junior Ethan Huntley (190, sixth), freshman Eli Anderson (215, first) and freshman Ryder Janke (215, fourth).

Wahluke’s two placers were senior Cristian Cruz (175, sixth) and senior Alessandro Maravilla (215, sixth).

State-wide results

The Quincy boys took 17th at Saturday’s Blackhawk Invite in Cheney, with junior Saidt Alvarez taking home a first-place finish in the 113-pound bracket.

Five local girls squads traveled to Kelso for Saturday’s Braided 64 tournament. Othello recorded the highest finish, placing eighth as a team, and was followed by Moses Lake (23rd), Ephrata (32nd), Warden (34th) and Royal (53rd). There were more than 100 teams at the Braided 64 tournament.

Each team had at least one wrestler place: Othello’s Grayce Mendez (110, seventh) and Elia Velazquez (190, fifth), Moses Lake’s Ashley Naranjo (110, first), Ephrata’s Leslie Sanchez-Guerrero (145, fourth) and Royal’s Sharon Arroyo (105, fifth).

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

    Almira/Coulee-Hartline freshman Porter Wood, top, gets a quick pin at Saturday’s Banks Lake Brawl in Coulee City.
  

    Moses Lake freshman Duane Zamora, top, placed first in the 120-pound bracket at Saturday’s Jeremiah Schmunk Invitational.
  

    A pair of Bronco wrestlers compete against each other at Saturday’s Banks Lake Brawl in Coulee City. Lind-Ritzville/Sprague had the highest team score at the tournament, putting up 160 points.