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TACOMA -- Last year, Steven Romero was the little brother winning the 3A 103-pound state title at Mat Classic XX, preceding older brother Isaac's win at 112.
On Saturday, Romero defended the family title at 112, one match after step-brother Christian Reyes laid claim to the 103 crown.
Sunnyside again made a sweep of the two lightest weights in the 3As at the Tacoma Dome. The 103 final was all in the family anyway, with Reyes topping freshman teammate Nathan Gonzalez 6-1.
Romero, cousin to Gonzalez, beat North Central's Nathan Brown for the third straight week, this time 6-1 for his second state title and a perfect senior season.
"I just wanted to win it to win it," Romero said, "prove that I'm the best.
"That's a good season for me, 41-0."
Indeed, Romero was never challenged. In his last two trips to state, the All-American has five pins, a technical fall and a pair of 6-1 decision in the championship matches.
It looked like Sunnyside might not get either 103-pounder into the final match.
Martinez led his semifinal 2-0 but was reversed late to tie the score. With the seconds winding down, the freshman slipped out the backdoor for the winning point as the clock hit zero.
Reyes, meanwhile, trailed 8-6 with 40 seconds left before hitting a series of takedown-and-escapes to tie the score at 10 to force overtime. Once in the extra period, he took his opponent down to his back and won 15-10.
The Grizzlies finished fifth in the team standings with 911/2 points. Enumclaw (174) ran away with the championship. However, five of the top eight teams came from the Region IV tournament: East Valley, third; Sedro-Woolley, fourth; Sunnyside; North Central, seventh; and Ferndale, eighth.
Sunnyside wound up placing five of the seven wrestlers it brought, including David Huizar taking fourth at 160. It was a strong showing for the junior, who sat out December after transferring mid-school year from Prosser and was in and out of the lineup with injuries after that.
"I'm just working hard and doing what I got to do," said Huizar, who placed fourth in the 2A tourney last year.
Hanford's Caleb Gifford finished fifth at 135 with a 2-1 win over Sunnyside's Shawn Olivarez in a match where both wrestlers showed the wear and tear of state weekend.
Gifford, a junior who qualified for state last year but didn't place, lost his opener to Tyler King of Auburn Mountainview and then won three straight matches before losing 3-0 to King again.
He spent most of the tournament wrestling elimination matches, and that was just fine with him.
"I like it because it makes me get motivated," he said.
Moses Lake finished sixth in the 4A team standings with 72 points, tops in Eastern Washington. Lake Stevens won easily with 169 points, the Vikings' third straight title.
The Chiefs' only finalist, Sam Villegas at 152, lost 5-3 to George King of Lake Stevens in a battle of returning state champions. King gave Villegas his only two losses of the season, beating him 6-5 at Tri-State.
"He's a great kid," Chiefs coach Jamie Wise said of Villegas, who was a three-time state finalist in the 1As with Royal before moving to Moses Lake. "He's a dang good wrestler, but a great kid."
Five of the Chiefs' 11 wrestlers placed, including Thomas Pfeiffer (sixth, 145), Spencer Fackrell (sixth, 215), Cameron Chlarson (eighth, 135) and Tyler Vela (seventh at 140).
Southridge junior Ely Garza earned his third state medal, placing fifth at 119 with a 3-2 win in the deciding match.
Garza cruised into the semifinals and was rolling along against Lake Steven's Jack Stillwell, getting the first takedown of the match. He was poised for a second when Stillwell just powered him to the mat for a five-point move. Garza was turned one more time before he could escape and wound up losing 9-4.
He said it was a good tournament ... sort of.
"Since I only had four matches, yeah," said Garza, who was ineligible for most of the regular season. "It's still not what I wanted.
"A lot of little mistakes that I definitely wouldn't have made if I had the other 30 matches."
Jacob Beiber capped his Richland career with a pair of high notes: on the state podium (seventh at 119) and with his hand raised after his final high school match.
"That felt good," he said. "It's really good to go out on a win."
Walla Walla's David Marquez placed seventh at 145 and Trey Haines eighth at 160.
Class 4A
Team scores -- 1, Lake Stevens 169; 2, Snohomish 102.5; 3, Auburn 88; 4, Tahoma 84; 5, Rogers (Puyallup) 73.5; 6, Moses Lake 72; 7, Graham-Kapowsin 71.5; 8, Kentwood 68.5; 9, University 65.5; 10, Mead 63.
Semifinals
103 -- Ruben Navejas (Kentwood) p. Andrew Vulliet (Edmonds-Woodway) 1:41; Bryce Evans (Rogers-Puy) d. Ryan Rodorigo (Lake Stevens) 2-0.
112 -- Josh Heinzer (Lake Stevens) d. Clint Powers (Heritage) 7-0; Cortney Nalley (Davis) d. Cort Schatz (Curtis) 12-8.
119 -- Efrain Aguilar (Graham-Kapowsin) p. Michael Turner (Auburn Riverside) 3:23; Jack Stilwell (Lake Stevens) d. Ely Garza (Southridge) 9-4.
125 -- Kyle Komato (Woodinville) d. Colton Kusilek (Kamiak) 4-2; Sean Anderson (Lake Stevens) d. Travis Metcalf (Graham-Kapowsin) 9-5.
130 -- Trevor Mills (Todd Beamer) d. Adam Ferguson (South Kitsap) 6-4; Sam Ottow (Snohomish) d. Brian Bitney (Rogers-Puy) 7-2.
135 -- Stefan St. Marie (Snohomish) p. Kyle Fenton (South Kitsap) 2:22; Tyler Lamb (Tahoma) d. Kevin Harder (University) 7-5.
140 -- Cody Quinn (Kentwood) d. Tyler Simmet (Central Valley) 4-2; Jordan Rogers (Mead) p. Niko Hughes (Kelso) 1:26.
145 -- John Buban (Tahoma) d. Dylan Granard (Woodinville) 7-3; Ryan Zumwalt d. Jacob Anderson (Lake Stevens) 5-1.
152 -- George King (Lake Stevens) d. Daniel Nelson (Inglemoor) 18-5; Sam Villegas (Moses Lake) d. Micah Morrill (Snohomish) 11-7.
160 -- Chris Myers (Arlington) d. James Souza (Emerald Ridge) 7-6; Jake Mason (University) d. Jake Welch (Lake Stevens) 7-4.
171 -- Teagan Franco (Bethel) d. Ian Bauman (Ferris) 7-5; Nick Bayer (Tahoma) d. Michael McAlister (Rogers-Puy) 16-6.
189 -- Jake Swartz (Auburn) p. Mitch Steed (Emerald Ridge) 3:03; Darren Faber (Decatur) d. Rudy Johanson (Edmonds-Woodway) 11-9.
215 -- Jacob Trotter (Mead) d. Konner Knutsen (Tahoma) 11-3; Grant Haschak (Lake Washington) t.f. Chris Young (Auburn) 15-0.
285 -- Tevyn Tillman (Decatur) p. Nick Conlan (Auburn) 3:20; Bryant Dickerson (Arlington) p. Allan Thompson (Rogers-Puy) 3:06.
Championship matches
103 -- Navejas d. Evans 4-2 (OT). 112 -- Heinzer d. Nalley 9-3. 119 -- Aguilar d. Stillwell 6-0. 125 -- Komata p. Anderson 3:45.
130 -- Ottow d. Mills 8-4. 135 -- St. Marie p. Lamb 4:55. 140 -- Rogers d. Quinn 6-4 (OT).
145 -- Buban d. Zumwalt 6-4 (OT). 152 -- King d. Villegas 5-3. 160 -- Mason t.f. Myers 18-3. 171 -- Bayer d. Franco 7-2.
189 -- Swartz d. Faber 7-0. 215 -- Trotter d. Haschak 4-2. 285 -- Tillman d. Dickerson 2-1.
Consolations
119 -- Cody Wood (Heritage) d. Jacob Bieber (Richland) 4-1; Zach Holland (Evergreen, Vancouver) d. Garza 2-1; 5th/6th -- Garza d. Wood 3-2; 7th/8th -- Bieber m.d. Jeremy Golding (Mead) 10-0.
135 -- Tyler Enos (Todd Beamer) DQ over Cameron Chlarson (Moses Lake); 7th/8th -- Mason McFarlane (Evergreen) inj. def. Chlarson.
140 -- Kyle McIntosh (Thomas Jefferson) d. Tyler Vela (Moses Lake) 10-4; 7th/8th -- Vela p. Jared Kilcup (Heritage) 4:50.
145 -- Thomas Pfeiffer (Moses Lake) d. Austin Carrillo (Kentlake) 10-6; Beau Klum (Heritage) d. David Marquez (Walla Walla) 9-1; Granard d. Pfeiffer 6-4; 5th/6th -- Klum d. Pfeiffer 9-8; 7th/8th -- Marquez m.d. Carrillo 12-4.
160 -- Michael Karpstein (Auburn) m.d. Trey Haines (Walla Walla) 12-1; 7th/8th -- Jordan Pine (Olympia) d. Haines 5-3.
215 -- Spencer Fackrell (Moses Lake) p. Steven Julian (Olympia) 2:05; Knutsen d. Fackrell 2-1 (OT); 5th/6th -- Young p. Fackrell 2:39.
Class 3A
Team scores -- 1, Enumclaw 174; 2, Yelm 139; 3, East Valley (Spokane) 127; 4, Sedro-Woolley 99.5; 5, Sunnyside 91.5; 6, Bonney Lake 76.5; 7, North Central 74.5; 8, Ferndale 67; 9, Auburn Mountainview 58; 10, Franklin Pierce 56.5.
Semifinals
103 -- Nathan Gonzales (Sunnyside) d. Nick Sweeney (East Valley-Spo) 3-2; Christian Reyes (Sunnyside) d. Josh Inouya-Clayton (Yelm) 15-10 (OT).
112 -- Steven Romero (Sunnyside) p. Keith Babington (East Valley-Spo) 2:38; Nathan Brown (North Central) d. Dylan Hyder (Yelm) 8-3 (4 OT).
119 -- Emillo Alcantar (Hudson's Bay) d. Paul Chinen (Bellevue) 12-6; Marcus Crone (Yelm) d. Jake Brown (Juanita) 7-0.
125 -- Sam Bauer (Enumclaw) p. Kevan Kelsey (Union) 2:41; Tyler Wooding (Sumner) d. Jess Borcherding (Olympic) 5-3.
130 -- David Kuich (Franklin Pierce) d. A.J. Hostake (Eastside Catholic) 10-6; Caleb Thornhill (Yelm) d. Wayne Horton (Enumclaw) 10-3.
135 -- Shane Hunt (Sedro Woolley) d. Tyler King (Auburn Mountainview) 12-6; Erik Booth (Franklin Pierce) d. Shawn Olivarez (Sunnyside) 9-2.
140 -- Jason Gray (Enumclaw) t.f. Adam Raemer (Port Angeles) 22-6; Brandon Yeik (Olympic) d. Alec Williams (White River) 5-3.
145 -- Chris Tripplet (East Valley-Spo) p. Andre Popich (ODea) 1:57; Addison Tracy (Bonney Lake) t.f. Scott Lindquist (Columbia River) 19-2.
152 -- Jacob Rodriguez (East Valley-Spo) d. Zack Wilkes (Mount Spokane) 8-5; Derek Garcia (Sedro Woolley) p. Joey Salgado (Bonney Lake) 1:21.
160 -- Connor Elder (Enumclaw) d. Caleb Malychewski (Camas) 7-0; Steve Harvey (Capital) d. Nic Price (East Valley-Spo) 8-5.
171 -- Cody Pohren (Sedro Woolley) p. Danny Lopez (Everett) 2:55; Ben Carter (North Central) d. Tyler Tangeman (Prairie) 8-4.
189 -- Ryan Nelson (Ferndale) d. Mike Staples (Enumclaw) 14-10; Dakota Lawson (East Valley-Spo) t.f. Dwayne McCarver (Franklin Pierce) 16-0.
215 -- Brad McCuthen (Enumclaw) d. Kyler Crow (Ferndale) 10-5; Alec Bird (Everett) d. Quanah Briggs (Union) 3-2 (OT).
285 -- Ryan Ransavage (Mount Si) p. Steven Taylor (North Central) 3:27; John Camp (Port Angeles) p. Jared Dorsey (Bonney Lake) :53.
Championship matches
103 -- Reyes d. Gonzales 6-1. 112 -- Romero d. Brown 6-1. 119 -- Crone d. Alcantar 7-4.
125 -- Bauer d. Wooding 3-2. 130 -- Kuich d. Thornhill 8-3. 135 -- Hunt t.f. Booth 20-4. 140 -- Gray d. Yeik 9-7.
145 -- Tracy d. Tripplet 9-5 (OT) 152 -- Garcia p. Rodriguez :36. 160 -- Harvey d. Elder 7-3.
171 -- Pohren p. Carter 1:35. 189 -- Lawson d. Nelson 5-4. 215 -- Bird d. McCuthen 5-0. 285 -- Camp p. Ransavage 3:27.
Consolations
135 -- Caleb Gifford (Hanford) d. Kyle Young (Enumclaw) 6-2; King d. Gifford 3-0; Nick Bendon (Bonney Lake) d. Olivarez 5-2; 5th/6th -- Gifford d. Olivarez 2-1.
160 -- David Huizar (Sunnyside) d. Paul Connell (Columbia River) 9-4; Huizar d. Malychewski 6-5; 3rd/4th -- Price d. Huizar 3-2.
