BASIN WRESTLING REPORT: Broncos, Huskies and Jacks host weekend tournaments

COLUMBIA BASIN — It was a busy weekend of wrestling tournaments across the Columbia Basin, with Lind-Ritzville/Sprague, Othello and Quincy all hosting tournaments on Saturday. 

Bronco Invitational — Ritzville

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos took third in their home Bronco Invitational on Saturday, scoring 106.5 team points and finishing behind Okanogan and Jenkins (Chewelah). 

Almira/Coulee-Hartline placed fourth in the tournament with 96.5 team points.

“I think we had a couple of kids step up (Saturday) and wrestle well,” LRS head coach Jason Hilzer said. “Getting four guys into the finals sure helped as far as team points. We had a good turnout this year, and everybody’s coming along pretty well.”

Ten Bronco wrestlers left the tournament with medals; senior Octavio Paredes Martinez (113, second), sophomore Waylon Rosman (120, fourth), senior Alexander Bonner (132, fourth), junior Carson Kubik (144, second), freshman Pete Spain (150, fourth), senior Travis Redburn (165, fourth), senior John Branham (190, fourth), senior Gabriel Smith (215, first) and junior Brock Tracy (285, second). 

Hilzer said the leadership of the team’s upperclassmen has gone a long way toward rebuilding the program.

“We’re trying to get the program’s numbers back up, and so as we do that it’s nice to be able to place at our tournaments,” Hilzer said. “The four guys that made the finals were all juniors and seniors, and six of those wrestlers that wrestled (Saturday) were seniors. It really helps.”

ACH had eight wrestlers place: junior Jack Molitor (120, third), sophomore Wyatt Stout (144, fourth), senior Everett Wood (157, second), senior John Pierce (175, second), junior Grayson Beal (190, first), junior Paul Stout (190, third) and freshman Noah Butler (215, second).

With the postseason closely approaching, Hilzer said the competition amps up in the practice room.

“Part of the deal is getting in the right weight classes we want to compete in the postseason, and a lot of grind at practice is the big deal here come the postseason,” Hilzer said.

Lady Huskie Invitational — Othello

The Othello Huskies had the highest finish among local teams at their home tournament Saturday, finishing second with 197 points at the Lady Huskie Invitational. 

Rounding out the local finishes were Quincy in fourth (128.5 points), Royal in seventh (103.5 points), Warden in eighth (92.5 points), Ephrata in 11th (79 points) and Moses Lake in 12th (69 points). La Grande, from Oregon, placed first as a team with 223 points.

Saturday’s tournament was originally planned to be hosted both Friday and Saturday, but the first day was canceled due to weather.

“I think everyone wrestled pretty well,” Othello girls wrestling head coach Rafael Ruiz said. “We had a lot of tough matches despite a lot of teams canceling due to weather. Overall, we had a great tournament. We still had a good turnout from teams that were able to make it, so there was a lot of great competition.”

Othello had three wrestlers reach the finals of the tournament, with freshman Grayce Mendez (110) and senior Elia Velazquez (190) both placing first. Sophomore Kiara Haertling (145) placed second, with five other Huskies earning placements; junior Grace Rocha (115, fourth), sophomore Serenity Ayala (125, tied-fourth), junior Diamond Van Cleve (135, sixth), freshman Lucy Gilbert (190, fifth) and sophomore Alejandria Espindola (235, third). 

“The girls have worked really hard, so it was really awesome to see them make it to the finals — especially one of them being a senior,” Ruiz said. “It’s her last home matches, and it was awesome to see her come out as a champion.”

Quincy has the second-most local placings, with five wrestlers reaching the podium: senior Allison Guerrero (100, fifth), junior Alondra Cordova (115, first), sophomore Hayden Morris (120, fourth), senior Michelle Acevedo (130, third) and sophomore Jourdan Ferguson (135, fifth).

Four Knights placed at the Lady Huskie Invitational; sophomore Sharon Arroyo (105, fourth), junior Lauren Jenks (135, fourth), senior Emma Villa (170, first) and sophomore Analy Castillo (235, fifth). Warden also had four wrestlers place, with senior Alona Castro (100, first), senior Brianalee Martinez (110, third), senior Jada Hernandez (115, third) and sophomore Ashley Cruz (120) all reaching the podium.

Moses Lake’s three placers were sophomore Elyssa Armendariz (105, third), freshman Emma Thompson (155, sixth) and sophomore Naomi Cruz (170, sixth).

Ephrata senior Kadie McMullen (145, first) and sophomore Adylene Sanchez (155, fifth) were the lone Tigers to place.

Othello gave out the Ruben “El Guapo” Martinez Sportsmanship Award during the tournament, which is given to a wrestler, coach or official who contributes to and represents the sport as much as Martinez did, Ruiz said. The award was given to Sammy Rocha.

Mat Animal Invitational — Quincy

The Jackrabbits took ninth in their home Mat Animal Invitational, scoring 98 points and having five wrestlers place in the tournament. 

Othello placed first with 241 points; of the local finishes, Ephrata took sixth (157 points), Royal placed 10th (94 points), Warden placed 11th (92.5 points) and Wahluke took finished 17th with 16.5 points. 

“We’re happy to be able to finish our regular at home with that tournament,” Quincy Head Coach Breck Webley said. “We’re going to have a little break there, but we got to see some kids placing in the tournament, finishing their regular seasons off with victories.”

Of Othello’s 13 placers, nine finished in the top three of their respective brackets: senior Isaac Campos (113, second), sophomore Daniel Gonzalez (113, third), sophomore Mason Russell (126, third), senior Anthony Abundiz (132, second), junior Jeremiah Flores (150, second), sophomore Camilo Mendez III (157, second), senior Jesus Bonilla (165, second), junior Anthony Solorio (215, third), and junior Mason Perez (285, first).

Six Tigers ended the tournament on the podium: freshman Nathan Sandoval (106, third), senior Jorge Rodriguez (126, first), sophomore Tavone Mantese (150, fifth), sophomore Jonathan Ramirez (157, fourth), sophomore Peyton Woods (215, fifth) and sophomore Micah Sandberg (285, fifth). 

The five Jacks to place were junior Saidt Alvarez (113, fourth), sophomore Jace Reyes (126, fifth), sophomore Luis Perez (157, sixth), senior Kaleb Klempel (175, third) and sophomore Alejandro Barajas (190, third).

Four Cougars ended the tournament on the podium: senior Manny Canales (120, sixth), junior Michael Gonzalez (126, second), junior Junior Santiago (138, sixth) and senior Anthony Contreras (285, third).

“We had a lot of wrestlers there, well over 300, and we got a lot of matches in, which is great to see,” Webley said. “As we put these tournaments together you can see by how we place them in their brackets, that we had a lot of state vets at that tournament … we were able to see a lot of high-level wrestling at that tournament.”

This was the third year of the Mat Animal Invitational, something Webley wanted to host since he took over as head coach five years ago.

“The kids love being able to have their friends from high school come to the gym and see what they’re doing,” Webley said. “They then realize, ‘Oh, there’s a lot of community members that like wrestling and like to come to the home events, but don’t necessarily travel to the away events. You start to really feel that wrestling family that you don’t always get to see.”

Statewide results

Moses Lake placed second in Saturday’s Rumble in the Valley tournament at Prosser, scoring 161.5 team points and finishing behind Toppenish. The Mavs had eight wrestlers place, including freshman Bryan Naranjo, senior Dayton Regan and freshman Eli Anderson all reaching the finals; Naranjo won his finals match.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com. Bivona lives in Soap Lake with his cat and access to streaming as much sports as possible.

    Othello senior Elia Velazquez, top, wrestles in the finals of the 190-pound bracket of the Lady Huskie Invitational on Saturday. Velazquez was one of three Othello wrestlers to reach the finals of Saturday’s tournament.
  

    Quincy sophomore Alejandro Barajas, left, took third in the 190-pound bracket at Saturday’s Mat Animal Invitational in Quincy.
  

    ACH junior Paul Stout, foreground, and LRS senior John Branham, background, wrestle in the 190-pound third/fourth-place match at Saturday’s Bronco Invitational.
  

    Ephrata senior Kadie McMullen, right, defeated Othello sophomore Kiara Haertling, left, in the finals of the 145-pound bracket at the Huskie Invitational on Saturday.
  

    Royal sophomore Kevin Almonte, background, takes down his opponent at Saturday’s Mat Animal Invitational in Quincy.