The Cheney Blackhawks varsity wrestling team kicked off the year with two solid performances in a row, earning fourth place at the Freeman Invite Dec. 29 and bumping their tournament score up to second place against Reardan Jan. 5.
The Freeman Invite pitted Cheney against seasoned wrestling teams from University High School and Deer Park, who took first and second-place with 226 and 158 points. Chewelah notched third with 121.5 points, while Cheney came in fourth with 110 points. West Valley followed closely behind with 104 points.
Sophomore Dylan Straley (20-2) showed off his skills and defeated his Freeman opponent by 7-1 decision. He followed that performance with a first-place win over Brayden Turcott of Orofino at the Blackhawk Invitational hosted at Cheney High School Jan. 5.
There, the team came in second overall with 134.5 points. Reardan took the top spot with 164 points, while West Valley, Medical Lake and Wapato rounded out the top five with 128, 121 and 119.5 points respectively.
Weighing in at 152 pounds, sophomore Jackson Showalter (17-5) had a breakout win on Saturday in his first championship, winning in tiebreakers against Thomas Perryman of Reardan.
Sophomore Black Seubert (17-6) captured third-place at 160 pounds, winning by fall over Evan Preuninger from Mead.
Cheney powerhouse sophomore Anthony Aguilera took second place in the 170-pound weight class, going up against Ozius Harden of Reardan in the first place match, while in the 106-pound class Cheney took the fifth and sixth-place spots.
Junior William Seeberger (13-8) defeated fellow Blackhawk freshman Sean Hamburg by fall in the fifth-place match.
Though sophomore James Whitley suffered a tough draw and dropped his first match, he battled back with four straight wins to top the consolation bracket.
“We will continue fine-tuning technique and rehabbing some injuries trying to get back to full strength as we prepare for upcoming Pullman and Ellensburg,” head coach Jason Connor said in an email.
Connor anticipated that the Pullman match would come down to matchups and pin points given their history of strong wrestlers.
“We need to get them where we can fight off our back if we get turned,” he said.
Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected].
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