Cheney's Josh Baker wins district title

See a photo gallery from the event here.

Five wrestlers will represent the Cheney Blackhawks at the Region IV tournament, Feb. 11 at Ellensburg.

Josh Baker qualified for regionals after he won the 220-pound division at the District 7 tournament, Feb. 3-4 at Shadle Park. Saul Bautista (120), Zack Nguyen (138), Francisco Martinez (145) and Boedy Taylor (182) punched their tickets to regionals after finishing second in their brackets.

"It was about what we expected," head coach Brad Rasmussen said. "There were moments where we showed up and moments where we struggled."

This year's district tournament was different in that only the top two placers would advance to regionals, a result of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association allotting the Central Washington Athletic Conference six spots for the Feb. 11 tournament.

Another rule in this year's tournament was the implementing of a "true second-place" match. Athletes who lost in the finals of their brackets faced the third-place wrestler, if they had not wrestled each other earlier in the tournament.

After first- and second-round byes, Baker pinned East Valley wrestlers Patrick Coleman in the semifinals and Landon Hofstee in the finals to capture his first district title.

Bautista earned his first trip to regionals after defeating Pullman's Colton Graham in a 12-2 majority decision, and pinning Clarkston's Jordan Welch in the semifinals. The Bantams' Klayton Babino pinned him in the championship round.

"A kid like that (Bautista), you want to see succeed because they worked so hard," Rasmussen said.

Nguyen's route to regionals consisted of him pinning Pullman's Scott Hutchinson and defeating West Valley's Gaje Cero, 12-3 in the semifinals. He dropped an 8-3 decision to Clarkston's Jake Freeman in his final match.

Martinez pinned Pullman's Sam Neville and Clarkston's Leigton Nedrow before losing a 15-7 decision to the Greyhounds' Kiran Srikanth. He defeated third-place East Valley's Isaiah Ervin, 7-1, in a true-second place match.

Taylor pinned East Valley's Garrett Crothers in the semifinals before he dropped a 4-1 decision to the Knights' Winston Scott.

Josh Corean (160) and Alan Coumbs (170) earned alternate spots at regionals after they took third in their brackets.

Taylor Nguyen (132) was fourth in his bracket after he lost to Pullman's Cole Dahman, via 16-0 technical fall, in the third-place match.

Nick Morgan (145), Calvin Edwards and Brenden Miller (both at 152) went 1-2 in the tournament before they were eliminated in the consolation round. As a team, the Blackhawks were third out of five teams with 158 points.

Before the tournament, the GNL selected Rasmussen as the GNL "Coach of the Year" while Brian Skaff was selected as the "Assistant Coach of the Year."

"It's good to get validation, but at the end of the day it comes down to the coaching staff and the good group of kids we have," Rasmussen said. "Our success is a reflection of their work ethic."

With districts out of the way, Rasmussen said this week's practice will focus on each wrestler's individual skills.

"We're going to pick apart things they need to improve on in order to prepare for the meat grinder that is the CWAC," Rasmussen said.

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].

See a photo gallery from the event here.