It was another busy week for the Cheney High wrestling team who earned a nonleague victory over West Plains rival Medical Lake, 43-33, Dec. 15, and had four wrestlers finish in the top 5 at the Cadet Classic, Dec. 19 in Yakima.
Being down 12-0 to the Cardinals, the Blackhawks picked up three consecutive wins, including Zack Nguyen’s 9-4 decision at 132 pounds and pins from Cameron Wiseman (145) and Francisco Martinez (152). After Boedy Taylor (170) earned Cheney another pin, the Blackhawks won their next four matches via forfeit.
“It was great to see Cameron get that win,” Cheney head coach Brad Rasmussen said. “Martinez and Taylor did great too. Our kids battled from top to bottom. It was unfortunate we didn’t get to see our big guys wrestle theirs, but what can you do?”
In the Cadet Classic, formerly known as the Eisenhower Mat Classic, Michael Ferguson (220) finished second in his division. Nguyen (132), Devon Waterman (195) and Garrett Pederson (285) were third in theirs.
After a first-round bye, Ferguson pinned Othello’s Alexis Mendoza in 40 seconds, then defeated Davis’ Christian Reyes, 8-2. Peninsula’s Chance Stolz pinned him at 2:42 in the championship match.
“Ferguson wrestled well,” Rasmussen said. “He was winning that match (against Stolz) until he got caught. The loss is good for him and it will motivate him.”
Pederson pinned Sunnyside’s Jarrod Perales and Granger’s Oscar Ibarra on the way to the semifinals where Davis’ Sam Grover defeated him, 2-0. In the third place match, Pederson defeated Eastmont’s Dan Alderson, 3-1.
Waterman had a successful return to action. After a first-round bye, he defeated Othello’s TJ Martinez, 8-4, then lost to Granger’s Juan Zamora via pin in the semifinals. He defeated Toppenish’s Damon Mattern via a 13-0 major decision.
“It was nice to see Devon have a good return to the mat,” Rasmussen said. “Garrett wrestled tough and lost a heartbreaker in the semifinals, but he battled back.”
After losing to Davis’ John Sowers, 9-8, in the opening round, Nguyen tore through the consolation bracket, pinning Davis’ Uriel Acevedo, Granger’s Case Graf, Eastmont’s Thomas Jones and finally Eisenhower’s Juan Isadoria in the third-place match.
“Zack had a rough road after that first loss,” Rasmussen said. “For him to go through that says a lot about his mental toughness.”
Saul Bautista (120), Wiseman (145), Martinez (152) and JW Merriott (182) were 1-2 in their brackets before being eliminated in the consolation rounds. As a team, Cheney was ninth out of 18 teams with 82 points.
Cheney sent several wrestlers to the Tri County Classic, Dec. 22, at Central Valley. They’ll finish the calendar year at the Freeman Invite, Dec. 30.
Rasmussen said the team will try and spend as much time on the mat as possible during Christmas break, focusing on conditioning and technique.
“We’ve been so close to scoring more points and winning big matches,” Rasmussen said. “But I think this team is tired of being close. We’re ready to get after it and win.”
Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].
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