CHENEY — The Blackhawks district champion wrestling team ran into tough Yakima Valley competition at regionals Saturday, finishing third overall in their home gymnasium.
But two local grapplers won Class 2A regional titles — Dylan Straley at 145 and Jackson Showalter at 152.
Toppenish won the team title with 292 points, followed by Selah with 128 and Cheney with 116. Fourth-place went to Othello with 107 team points and fifth to Ellensburg with 80.
Rounding out team scoring, East Valley (Spokane) was sixth with 70 points, Wapato seventh with 62, Quincy eighty with 55.5, and Ephrata and Prosser tied for ninth at 53 points. Grandview was 11th with 33 points, followed by West Valley (Spokane) with 31, Pullman with 29 and Clarkston with 16. East Valley (Yakima) did not score any team points.
At 145 pounds, Straley won three bouts en route to first place.
He defeated Alonzo Lopez of Selah, 2-1, in his opener; then won the semifinal, 3-2, over Arturo Solorio of Othello.
In the title tilt, he edged Isaac John of Toppenish, 4-3, for first place and a state 2A Mat Classic berth.
Straley, a junior, enters the state Mat Classic on Friday as the No. 1 seed at 145 pounds in Class 2A. He will open the tournament against Washougal senior Aiden Kestner.
Cheney’s other champion, Jackson Showalter, had an equally tough route to the 152-pound title.
After tying in regulation time 4-4, Showalter won his tournament-opener with a sudden death victory over Ethan Medina of Othello to advance to the semifinals. There, he topped Jonathan Gomez of Othello, 5-3.
In the championship match, Showalter defeated Juan Escamilla Jr. of Toppenish, 5-1.
He, too, advances to the state Mat Classic in the Tacoma Dome this coming weekend. Jackson, a junior, will face junior Evan Moon of Chehalis.
The Top 4 in each weight class qualify for state.
Three other Blackhawks are also advancing to the state tournament, including Hunter Despino at 138 pounds, Blake Seubert at 160 and Anthony Aguilera at 170.
Both Seubert and Aguilera finished third in their respective weight classes; Despino was fourth.
Seubert earned his bronze after pinning Corgan Smith of Ellensburg in 3:58 in his opening match.
But he narrowly lost the semifinal bout to Jackson Yates of Selah, 4-3.
In the wrestle-backs, Seubert pinned Nathan Garza Jr. of Othello in 3:41, then took a major decision over Bodie Bedow of East Valley (Spokane), 10-0, to finish third.
Seubert, a junior, will face junior Riley Edwards of River Ridge in the opening of Mat Classic.
Aguilera followed a similar path, pinning Richard Wellington of Ellensburg in 1:04, then narrowly losing to Logan Candanoza of Prosser, 7-6, in the semifinals.
In consolation rounds, he defeated Micah Petersen of West Valley (Spokane), 6-4, then took a 3-1 decision over Mykenzi Realme of Quincy for the bronze.
At Mat Classic, Aguilera, a junior, will face junior Tate Cavanaugh of Burlington in the opening round Friday.
Despino, too, won his regional opener, but fell in the semifinals.
He won a 6-4 decision over Judah Yates of Selah in his first match, but was pinned by Kyler Romero of Toppenish in 3:00 in the semifinals.
In the consolation wrestle-backs, he pinned Javier Garza Jr. of Wapato in 2:44, then lost, 2-0, to Jaxon Rocha of Othello to finish fourth.
Despino, a junior, will open his the Mat Classic tournament Friday against sophomore Alex Hicks-Avron of Centralia.
Other Blackhawks struggled against Yakima Valley foes.
Williams Seeberger lost his 113-pound opener to Luis Barajas of Wapato, 9-4, then won the next consolation round match by pinning Joseph Asterino of West Valley (Spokane) in 21 seconds.
He then lost a 2-0 decision to Josiah Johnson of Toppenish before pinning Moon Thompson of Selah in 58 seconds to finish fifth.
At the same weight across the bracket, Blackhawk Trevor Caldwell lost his first two matches, first by a major decision, 11-0, to Toppenish’s Johnson then by pin to Selah’s Thompson in 3:45.
Cheney’s Joe Showalter wrapped up his season with a fifth-place finish at 120 pounds.
He was pinned in his opener by Christian Davis of Ellensburg in 45 seconds, then won a 10-2 major decision over Ryan Noel of Grandview in the consolation rounds.
Evan Anderson of Selah then handed Showalter a 2-0 loss, dropping him into the bout for fifth-place, where he took a 6-0 win over Anthony Martin of East Valley (Spokane).
Dalton Taylor went 0-2 in the tournament at 145 pounds for the Blackhawks. He was pinned by Toppenish’s eventual silver medalist John in 4:52, before being pinned and eliminated by Jose Adame of Wapato in 3:31.
Gerald London finished his season as the sixth-place finisher for at 152 pounds.
London opened with a 18-8 loss to Jonathan Gomez of Othello then topped Ethan Medina of Othello, 6-3, in the consolation bracket.
He then dropped his next two bouts, losing 6-4 to Ethan Garza of Selah and then 4-2 to Gomez of Othello, who defeated him in the opening round.
Cheney’s Blake Gross lost both of his opening matches at 182 pounds and was eliminated.
Carter Mills of Ephrata beat him 14-2 in the opening round. Then Gross lost an 8-2 decision to Josh Luna of Toppenish.
Cheney had two grapplers at 195 pounds who had to face off for the fifth-place finish.
James Whiteley opened with a 3-1 loss to Josue Solorio of Othellow then pinned Devren Hautala of East Valley (Spokane) in 3:20. He then lost to Kevin Pelayo of Ephrata, 5-4, in the ultimate tiebreaker, dropping him to the bout for fifth-place.
Across the bracket, Cheney’s Jason Inman opened with a loss after being pinned by Ephrata’s Pelayo in 1:42.
He then took a suddeon death win, 4-2, over Eric Gomez of Othello.
Othello’s Josue Solorio then topped Inman, 8-3, dropping him to the fifth-place bout where he would face teammate Whiteley.
Whiteley won that match, 4-3, to finish fifth; Inman finished sixth.
Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, columnist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers from Washington state to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.
Reader Comments(0)