Othello wrestlers district champions

ELLENSBURG - Impressive. That was the word most often used by fans, parents and coaches alike as the Othello Huskies won 60 individual matches, 28 by pin and 12 by technical fall at the 2A Central Washington District (CWAC) Wrestling tournament over the weekend.

"I am very proud of the way our kids wrestled," coach Ruben Martinez said. "I knew we would be facing  opponents that we had faced unsuccessfully during the regular season.  We were able to avenge many of those individual losses. The key was having a total team effort and boy did they do their job."

Martinez said he was pleased with the results of the opening round on day one of the competition, but was ecstatic with the final outcome on day two.

"We had two great rounds actually," he said. "The first was Friday afternoon. On Saturday, it was exciting to watch eight kids finish third and another three earning fifth place. Thus we only had two matches in the placing rounds and to me that was very impressive."

Martinez said he was a bit concerned going into the tournament because he felt his wrestler weren't performing at their best. But that all changed once the competition got underway.

 "We needed to get our wrestlers competing at a higher level of competition and they did just that this weekend," he said. "Now need to continue wrestling like this for two more weeks. We need to get five to seven wrestlers through regionals, and if we wrestle as well as we did, after looking at the brackets, we might just squeeze in another two."

Several Huskies turned in stellar performances, but a four really stood out in Martinez's mind.

"Alec Espinoza, Noe Dominguez, Juan Gutierrez and Johnny Mendoza  have all been asked all season to go up a weight or to go down a weight   to make our team stronger for duals," he said. "These four wrestled their hearts out and I am glad they were able to be rewarded for all of their hard work. There is no quit in them, and now they will be wrestling in the regional tournament."

 Three other wrestlers Martinez said also put them selves in great position to advance from regionals to the Mat Classic next week.

"Joey (Gomez), Eric (Garza) and Bubba (Ruiz) had great tournaments," he said. "In fact all of the third place finishers are in great shape to move on."

Yet with all the success the Huskies had at districts, Martinez said there is still room to improve.

"We still need to get better at some situational wrestling and winning the scrambles that occur during the match,"he said.  "We will focus on that this week and we will be ready. The stakes get a little higher this weekend."

Othello will take 15 wrestlers and tow alternates to the regional tournament at West Valley High School in Spokane Saturday.

District results

Team points: 287.5

Weight class

(106) Anthony Barrera, third, Isaiah Barrera, fifth.

(113) AJ Garza, third, Manny Martinez, fifth. (120) Alec Espinoza, third. (126) Lucas Gara, third. (132) Noe Dominguez, fifth, Brandon Medina, eighth.(138) Johnny Mendoza, sixth. (152) Eric Garza, champion, Jonathan, eighth. (160) Matthew Melo, third. (170) Juan Gutierrez, third. (182) Stephen Villarreal, third. (220) Joey Gomez, champion, George Rodriguez, third. (285) Bubba Ruiz, second.

CWAC roundup

The Quincy mat men turned in a strong showing at the 2A Central Washington District (CWAC) Wrestling Tournament over the weekend.

The Jackrabbits finished third (221.5), but came within seven and a half points of besting Ellensburg (228.5) for second place. The Othello Huskies (287.5) captured the district crown.

"It (our finish) was a pleasant surprise," coach Greg Martinez said. "We were in second place with eight matches to and Ellensburg made a run and overtook us. But our JV kids wrestled well and earned us a lot of points and our main guys did what we needed them to and we came out looking pretty good."

The surprise Martinez was referring to was nine of his wrestlers placed higher than their seeding going into the tournament.

The biggest surprise of the bunch, Martinez said was Isias Jimenez (145).

"I knew he was a good wrestler," he said. But he really showed a lot of grit at districts as beat two guys he lost to in the regular season to finish third.

Although the Jackrabbits didn't finish in the top two at the tournament, Martinez was happy with the outcome.

"Our goal going in was to place in the top five," he said. "This is a tough region with a lot of talented wrestlers to compete against, so any finish above fourth is welcome."

Quincy will take 15 wrestlers (including alternates) to the regional tournament at West Valley High School in Spokane, which gets underway Saturday.

"Seven of our guys are seeded in the top four in their weight class," he said. "Our goal at the beginning of the season was five."

The top four finishers in each weight class at the regional tournament will advance to the Mat Classic state tournament in Tacoma Feb. 17 and 18.

District results

Team points: 221.5

Weight class

(106) Christian Alejandrez, champion, Gabe Martinez, second. (126) Uriel Heras, fourth, Hector Avalos, seventh. (132) Blas Magana, third. (1380 Gary Benitez, fifth, Anthony Navarro, seventh. (145) Isias Jimenez, third.(152) Carter Bushman, third, Andy Vargas, seventh.(1600 Antonio Melendez, second, Cade Wallace, seventh. (170) Steven Gomez, sixth, Darren Hodges, eighth.(182) Austin Morris, sixth, Ian Allen, eighth.

Ephrata

The Tigers (162) took sixth place at districts, finishing just five points back of fifth-place Toppenish (167). But despite not placing in the upper echelon of the competition, coach PJ Anderson said he was happy with the way his wrestler performed.

"Anytime you finish five points below the team ahead of you, you always want to place higher. But I am happy with the way the kids wrestled," he said. "We are a pretty young team, and there were some upsets along the way, but our older kids climbed through the brackets the way they should've."

Ephrata will take 11 wrestlers to the regional tournament at West Valley High School this weekend; seven placers and four alternates. But only the top four in each weight class from regionals will advance to state Feb. 17 and 18.

"We are going to have to wrestle like crazy to get out of our region," Anderson said. "It won't be a cakewalk by any means as our kids will go up against a lot of good wrestlers over the two days. But they are peaking at the right time, so anything can happen."

District results

Team points:162

Weight class

(138) Benny Carter, fourth. (145) Kyle Pohle, fourth.(152) Bryce Unruh, fifth. (160) Dalton Balentine, fourth, Tevin Hiat, fifth. (195) Tyrus Kemp, champion, Matt Derting, sixth. (1820 Erik Guzman, fourth. (220) Isaac Garcia, seventh, Claudio Bastida, eighth. (285) Brandt Monson, fifth.