Cardinal freshman Chris Garza, brought up to wrestle in the 138 weight class, surprised everyone with a quick pin of Riverside's Nathan Platz during a Thursday, Jan. 16, dual in Medical Lake.
MEDIAL LAKE - Cardinal wrestlers gave the Riverside Rams a pounding before heading to the Crusader Classic at Northwest Christian High School where they took fifth in a field of 22 regional teams on Saturday.
"About like I thought it would be," head coach Matt Leenhouts said of the 54-27 shellacking Cardinal wrestlers gave to the Rams.
It was pin-city on the Cardinals home spotlight on Thursday, Jan. 16, with six of the 12 matches resulting in Card pins, along with one 10-4 decision by Victor Long against Aaron DesRoches in the 152-pound weight class.
Pins went to Washington Wrestling Report seventh-ranked Alex Gonzalez at, Nate Stevens, ranked 11th at 152, defending state champion and top-ranked Ethan Davis in the 170 class and Aiden Carl at 126.
The Cardinals were short some wrestlers, so Leenhouts brought up freshman Chris Garza to replace the injured Jon Anderson at 138, who surprised everyone with a quick pin of Riverside's Nathan Platz.
Brandon Giles at 145 finally got a pin after losing his last two matches due in part to a broken nose received in practice that, between his mouthpiece and his swollen snout, left him breathless. The swelling was finally down against Riverside.
Then it was off to the Northwest Christian Crusader Classic in Colbert on Saturday, Jan. 18.
Long, who is ranked third in state 1A, was the only Cardinal to make a first place showing at 152, beating St. Maries' Trysten Lockeridge in a 11-6 decision.
Cardinal Angel Mendez finally got to actually wrestle, at 106 after taking forfeits in at least his last two meets, losing to Republic's David Phillips in the championship round by pin.
Isaac Bliven was also pinned in the final round, taking second place at 160 against Selkirk's Bert Burnett, and Davis had to settle for a second slot in a tough 3-0 decision loss to Liberty's Jesse Turner.
Medical Lake's Aden Carl, ranked second in 1A, took a sixth-place finish at 126, in a close 5-4 decision to Liberty's Owen Prince.
Medical Lake remains undefeated in the Northeast A League and 5-2 overall.
As of press time, the Card girls were scheduled to duel Newport on Tuesday, Jan. 21, and then the varsity team will be hosting Lakeside today, Thursday, Jan. 23, at 7 p.m. before heading to the Rumble at the River at the Spokane Convention Center Friday.
Lee Hughes can be reached at [email protected].
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