Hanford wrestlers ranked 3rd in state. CBC men’s basketball team picks up win
Grayson Nelson scored 22 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked 5 shots to lead the Columbia Basin College men’s basketball team to a 78-62 home victory over Big Bend Community College this week.
Teammate Denzel Brantley added 17 points for the Hawks, who improve the NWAC East record to 2-7, and 7-14 overall.
• Pasco High grad Isabella Gutierrez came off the bench to lead CBC’s women in scoring with 14 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Hawks lost to Big Bend 73-56.
The visiting Vikings jumped out to an 18-6 first quarter lead and never looked back.
Kaitlyn Callaghan led Big Bend with 30 points on 10-for-12 shooting from the floor.
CBC falls to 3-6 in NWAC East play, 6-15 overall.
But the Hawks are still only 1 ½ games out of a playoff spot.
• CBC men’s soccer coach Martin Ramirez continues to reload his talented squad by signing a number of local players this week.
Ramirez got four players from Pasco High to sign: Alan Barragan, David Beltran, Jose Garcia and Sergio Gutierrez. Plus he’s added Mario Ruelas from Sunnyside.
• Kennewick’s Andrea Martell and Hermiston’s Cydney Lind signed letters of intent to play for the CBC women’s soccer team next fall.
Prep wrestling
Most teams will be taking this coming weekend off to rest before the post-season battles begin Feb. 7-8 with district tournaments.
Only Hanford’s boys and girls team will be competing this weekend in a tournament at Curtis High School.
Meanwhile, area wrestlers performed well this past weekend at a couple of tournaments:
• At the Grandview Girls Invitational tournament Jan. 25, the Hanford girls ran away with the team title with 184 points.
Othello was second as a team with 163 points.
The website Washingtonwrestlingreport.com has the Hanford Falcons ranked as the third-best girls team in the state, behind White River and North Kitsap.
On Saturday, Taylor Wilson (100 pounds) and Grace Nelson (145) both won weight class individual championships.
Wilson, a two-time defending state champion at her weight class, won her title by pinning Walla Walla’s Nayeli Flores in 1 minute and 53 seconds. Wilson, still just a junior, is 23-2 this season.
Nelson won her title by pinning Kamiakin’s Asia Borisch at 3:06.
The Falcons added more points with second-place finishes by Maria Gardner (120), Mirina Enderlin (130) and Hailey Say (140).
Say lost her title match to Walla Walla’s Annelise Whitaker in a pin at 2:26.
Other area champions include Connell’s Emmalee Andrewjeski at 190, Kamiakin;s Sarah Hamilton at 155, Chiawana’s Alanna Haney at 115, Othello’s Emily Mendez at 110, Grandview’s Mollee Weddle at 135, and River View’s Kira Yount at 235.
• Over at Prosser High School, at the boys’ Rumble in the Valley, four Othello wrestlers and a Kamiakin wrestler all won weight class titles.
At 285, Othello senior Isaiah Perez raised his record to 24-0 with a title.
He was joined by teammates Eric Gomez (182), Elijah Roylance (220) and Arturo Solorio (145) with their championships.
Kamiakin’s Gilbert Marquez rolled to victory in the 195-pound division.
Second-place finishers included Prosser’s Reyden Huizar at 113, Sunnyside’s Alejandro Fernandez at 120 (now sporting a 25-1 record), and Sunnyside’s Andrew Macias at 145 (record of 24-2).
Notes
• Big Mid-Columbia Conference boys basketball weekend for Walla Walla, which has to come into Kamiakin’s gym on Friday at 7:30 p.m., in a battle of two teams tied for second in the standings with 10-2 records.
Then the Blue Devils come back to the Tri-Cities on Saturday to visit first-place Chiawana, again at 7:30 p.m.
This will be a rematch of the two teams’ high-scoring contest earlier this month in Walla Walla, in which Chiawana’s Cooper DeWitt sank a 3-point shot at the buzzer to give the Riverhawks a 90-87 victory.
• Kamiakin junior running back Tuna Altahir received his first college offer this week, the first of what is likely many more to come.
The University of Montana offered a football scholarship to Altahir, who led the MCC in rushing last fall with 1,406 yards for a 7.5 yards a carry.
He was also named the MCC’s Offensive Player of the Year, and was an honorable mention selection for the AP all-state team.
• Walla Walla senior Cannon Angotti announced he’s headed to Grand Canyon University next year to run for the men’s cross country team and track and field squad.
• Walla Walla senior Peyton Bergevin never got to see the basketball court this season after blowing out an ACL. Yet Linfield College likes what they see in her, and has invited her to play for its women’s basketball team next winter.
MCC boys basketball standings
Through games of Jan. 30
Chiawana 12-1 MCC/16-1 overall
Kamiakin 10-2/14-2
Walla Walla 10-2/14-2
Kennewick 9-3/11-4
Richland 7-6/10-7
Southridge 4-9/5-12
Pasco 2-10/3-13
Hermiston 1-11/2-14
Hanford 1-12/3-14
Friday, Jan. 31
All tipoff times 7:30 p.m.
Hermiston at Hanford
Kennewick at Richland
Pasco at Southridge
Walla Walla at Kamiakin
MCC girls basketball standings
Through games of Jan. 30
Chiawana 12-1 MCC/15-2 overall
Kennewick 10-2/13-2
Walla Walla 8-4/12-4
Pasco 7-5/10-5
Richland 7-6/8-9
Hermiston 6-6/9-7
Kamiakin 3-9/4-12
Hanford 3-10/4-13
Southridge 0-13/3-14
Friday, Jan. 31
All tipoff times 5:45 p.m.
Hermiston at Hanford
Kennewick at Richland
Pasco at Southridge
Walla Walla at Kamiakin
This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 6:12 PM.