Here's a frightening thought for the rest of the area 4A wrestling teams: The Chiawana Riverhawks are still a year away from being their best.
With just two seniors in their lineup, the Riverhawks landed their first district wrestling title Saturday, winning two titles and advancing 13 to regionals after a dominating day at the CBBN 4A tournament in their own gym.
"I was very impressed with how our guys committed to each other and the team," said Chiawana coach Jack Anderson, who was named district coach of the year ("staff award for us," he said).
"Our team stepped up and had a goal in mind of being district champions the last couple of years, and they worked hard for it, and it all came together today."
Chris Montelongo at 106 pounds and C.J. Edrington at 182 claimed the Riverhawks' indivdiual titles on the way to piling up 314 team points, 37 more than second-place Moses Lake and another six more than third-place Wenatchee.
Montelongo pinned his way to the title match, then kept Moses Lake's Fernando Leyva under wraps for a 5-0 win. Edrington also pinned his way through the bracket until winning 9-0 against Davis' Tony Lopez in the championship.
Four more Chiawana wrestlers finished second: Mark McKeown lost to Moses Lake's Hayden Wise 6-2 at 126; Brandon Gonzalez injury defaulted at 132 after he and his nose poured through five minutes of blood time; Clayton Smith lost 5-3 to Walla Walla's Anthony Stalder at 138; and Austen Silvers lost by a single point, 3-2, to Moses Lake's Jonathan Perales, a state runner-up last season.
The top four at each weight move on to next week's regional tournament at Moses Lake against the top four from the Greater Spokane League.
Richland will have just a pair of wrestlers in that tournament, including Josh Andrew, who finished second at 120 after getting pinned in the first period by Moses Lake's Beau Gleed.
Gleed and Wise swapped weights for the postseason, and it paid off with both winning titles.
Walla Walla has seven wrestsling moving on, including a pair of champions in Stalder and 195-pounder Luis Santana, who beat Wenatchee's Isaiah VanWeerhuizen 10-5 in the final. Logan Reardon finished second at 220, getting pinned in overtime of his final against Wenatchee's Kyle Lesmeister.
Moses Lake will take 10 to regionals, with six of them one or two seeds. Nico Moreno, another state runner-up last year, rolled over the 152-pound bracket with two pins and then a 20-3 technical fall in the final. Chase Clasen finished second at 113.
At Chiawana
Team scores--Chiawna 314, Moses Lake 277, Wenatchee 271, Davis 190, Eisenhower 181, Walla Walla 1641/2, Richland 140.
Championship, third-fourth matches
106--Chris Montelongo (Chi) d. Fernando Leyva (ML) 5-0; Cameron Manjarrez (Ike) p. Drake Lewis (Wen) 1:52. 113--Juan Lopez (Dav) d. Chase Clasen (ML) 5-3; Jacob Garcia (Chi) d. Romero Ortiz (Dav) 10-8. 120--Beau Gleed (ML) p. Josh Andrew (Rich) 1:10; Will Babbitt (WW) d. Pedro Murillo (Chi) 5-3. 126--Hayden Wise (ML)_ d. Mark McKeown (Chi) 6-2; Anthony Barajas (ML) p. Alberto Montes DeOca (Wen) 3:23. 132--Marco Gonzalez (Ike) inj. def. Brandon Gonzalez (Chi); Pryce Seely (Rich) d. Jadin Salazar (Chi) 13-9. 138--Anthony Stalder (WW) d. Clayton Smith (Chi) 5-3; Enrique Gudino (Ike) d. Jose Belman (Dav) 5-1. 145--Austin Wagner (Dav) d. Roger Andrade (Ike) 5-2; Boss Garcia (Chi) d. Paul Jagla (Wen) 1-0. 152--Nico Moreno (ML) t.f. Jorge Alcala (Dav) 20-3; Zach Anderson (WW) p. Blake Bishop (Chi) 2:55. 160--Humberto Acevedo (Ike) p. Edwinn Gudino (Ike) :06; John Campbell (Wen) inj. def. Nico Hernandez (ML). 170--Jonathan Perales (ML) d. Austen Silvers (Chi) 3-2; Zack Paro (Wen) m.d. Zane Henderson (WW) 16-6. 182--C.J. Edrington (Chi) d. Tony Lopez (Dav) 9-0; Jordan LaCelle (ML) p. Michel St. Clair (Wen) 1:25. 195--Luis Santana (WW) d. Isaiah VanWeerhuizen (Wen) 10-5; Derek Fredericksen (ML) d. Octavious Tookes (Dav) 8-3. 220--Kyle Lesmeister (Wen) p. Logan Reardon (WW) 6:21; Aaron Huss (WEn) p. Abzael Loeza (Chi) 3:33. 285--Ignacio Molinero (Wen) d. Ryan Osterlund (Wen) 5-1; Quinn Piver (WW) p. Martin Villanueva (Chi) 2:25.
