Cougars make their way to state

WARDEN — After a tough weekend at districts, the Warden Cougars are sending 16 wrestlers to the Mat Classic in Tacoma: a dozen boys and six girls. 

Boys 

The boys team had a successful weekend in Tonasket, where they came out of the district tournament qualifying 12 wrestlers.  

“We didn’t have such a great league (tournament) the week before, but the kids got together and had a good week this week, which is what we always try to tell them is to peak at the right time,” said Cougars boys head coach Johnny Hernandez. 

The top placers for the Cougars boys were 138-lb Erik Camacho, 190-lb Jesus Arias and 113-lb Raylen Heredia, who all earned third place in their weight classes. Camacho, who has been a senior leader for the team, had a successful weekend, said the coach, and despite a tough fall in the semifinals, came back to win his next two. 

Warden’s team also had two eighth-grade wrestlers who qualified for the state tournament at the district tournament, with 106-lb Collin Cox in tenth and 126-lb Justice Cafferty in sixth. The coach said in districts, Cox came back to win against an opponent that he had previously lost to in league to qualify. Cafferty battled hard through his bracket, winning three of his matches by pinfall within three minutes. 

As the Cougars prepare to head west for Tacoma this week, Johnny said the main focus will be to take on the individual matchups and keep each matchup one at a time. 

“Nobody can predict what’s going to happen in Tacoma because we see things happen all the time,” he said. “We try to take it one match at a time, really focus on our first opponents and break down video. Just work on the things we’re doing right.” 

Johnny said the Cougars have really come together through the dedication of the captains and built up strong team chemistry leading into the state tournament.  

“We are some fighters and we’ve got a lot of heart,” said the coach. “Really proud of the team and how they’ve been performing and I’m excited to see what they do this weekend.” 

Girls 

The Cougars girls wrestlers competed in Omak on Thursday for their district tournament, where they qualified four to head to Tacoma for Mat Classic. 

“With such a young team, the girls were quite nervous coming out,” said Cougars girls head coach Valerie Hernandez. “At the end of the day I just tell my girls, it doesn’t matter who’s in your bracket, you just have to focus on your wrestling style and tuning up your favorite moves.” 

Warden senior Ashley Cruz is returning to the state tournament for her third year in a row after placing eighth in districts. Valerie said that this year, Cruz is planning on ending her season by bringing home a medal from Mat Classic.  

“I’m excited for (Cruz), she did a really good job of dedicating her time and being consistent and supporting the team as well,” said the coach.  

Sarah Lino is another senior state returner for the Cougars this year after finishing seventh in the 190-lb bracket at the district tourney.  

“(Lino) has continued to build success and just has valuable experience and hopefully she can pull off some wins as expected and get into the placing rounds,” said Valerie. 

The Cougars will also have two new faces in the state tournament with sophomore Kiley Huber and freshman Evelynn Velasquez-Garcia. Huber finished tenth in the 145-lb bracket and Velasquez-Garcia squeezed into the 140-lb bracket’s 10th place spot with two pins, qualifying her to head to Tacoma. 

Valerie said she was very proud of not only her state qualifiers, but all of her girls who fought hard throughout the season and put in the dedication for their team. 

As the state qualifiers look ahead at the upcoming tournament, fine-tuning their techniques will be the focus over the next few days, said the coach. For the newer girls heading to state, they will focus on sticking to the basics, while the experienced state wrestlers are going to work on getting more complex moves and aiming to make their way up the bracket. 

“We hope that they continue to push through with their training, so that they can pull it off,” she said.  

The coach said all four girls are feeling excited after coming off their successes at districts and heading toward Mat Classic. She hopes that the girls use that excitement to fuel their focus as they train for the competition.  

“I’m proud of these four athletes who pulled it off,” said Valerie. “They’ve been showing up, pushing through challenges, they committed themselves to improve to get where they are and them qualifying for this tournament has been a huge reflection of their discipline and resilience.” 

    The Warden state qualifiers from both the boys and girls teams stand together for a group photo. In total the Cougars are sending 16 wrestlers.