Cougars take bronze at EWAC league tourney

WARDEN – The postseason in wrestling began for teams across the state last week, including for the Warden Cougars, who finished third as a team at the Eastern Washington Athletic Conference league tournament Friday. 

Warden hosted the tournament, scoring 296.5 points as a team. Goldendale won the tournament with 374 points while Granger finished slightly ahead of the Cougars with 304 points. 

“We were pretty excited, (wrestling) with the top teams,” Warden head coach Johnny Hernandez said. “We ended up taking third, I think it came down to the last match with Granger – had a half-point lead, then they ended up winning that last match. Goldendale and Granger are two of the top five ranked teams in the state, so to be able to be in the mix with those guys, as young as we are, I think that says something.” 

Seventeen Cougar wrestlers placed at the tournament, where the top nine in each weight class advanced to wrestle at next weekend’s district tournament, hosted at Highland High School. Only one Cougar wrestler didn’t make the cut for districts. 

Advancing to the district tournament will be eighth grader Stratton Yorgensen, sophomore Raylen Heredia, sophomore Samuel Aquilar, junior Erik Camacho, freshman Luis Cisneros, senior Kolby Klueber, freshman Nikko Ruiz, sophomore Bryan Zaragoza, senior Michael Gonzalez, senior Jonathan Lino, senior Junior Santiago, senior Eli Rios, sophomore Jaden Hernandez, junior Gabriel Serna, senior Jonathon Baerholm, junior Valentin Juarez and sophomore Jesus Arias. 

Hernandez credited the placements to “peaking at the right time.” 

“That’s what we believe in. We train all year to get to this point in the season,” Hernandez said. “We’ve got a lot of wrestlers getting to their best wrestling right now, which is when you need to do it. The seniors and the captains, they went out and performed and I think it allowed everyone else to follow suit.” 

With the league tournament playing a role in seeding at the district tournament, as well as the first round of the postseason, Hernandez said there was an emphasis on preparing the younger wrestlers for the postseason. 

“We tried to push the narrative that, hey, this is a postseason tournament – it's for seeding,” Hernandez said. “We know what’s coming up next week. For these young guys, just trying to get them in that postseason-type vibe, that it’s do or die. It’s loser-out, and you’ve got to have that mentality the last three weeks of the season.” 

The District 5 1B/2B pits teams from the EWAC against those from the Central Washington 2B league. With 17 schools featured at the tournaments, weight classes will have 16-man brackets, where the top 12 from each class will advance to the 1B/2B Mat Classic in Tacoma. 

“There’s strength in numbers,” Hernandez said. “Because we’re allowed to take so much, we’re going to have big numbers there. Difference-wise, if we can just have everybody score some points, it’s going to get us in that top tier of teams.” 

Wrestling begins at 10 a.m. at Highland High School. 

EWAC League Tournament Results 

Warden – 3rd place 

Placers: Yorgensen (106, fourth), Heredia (113, fourth), Aquilar (113, sixth), Camacho (120, second), Cisneros (120, fourth), Klueber (126, sixth), Ruiz (132, fifth), Zaragoza (132, ninth), Gonzalez (138, first), Lino (138, seventh), Santiago (144, second), Rios (175, sixth), Jaden Hernandez (190, third), Serna (215, fourth), Baerholm (215, eighth), Juarez (285, third) and Arias (285, fourth). 

    Warden junior Valentin Juarez, left, took third in the 285-pound weight class at the EWAC League Tournament on Friday.
  

    Warden sophomore Samuel Aquilar, top, pins his opponent at the EWAC League Tournament on Friday.
  

    Warden sophomore Jesus Arias, top, takes down his opponent at Friday’s league tournament in Warden. Arias finished fourth in the 285-pound weight class.