Chiawana, Hermiston boys wrestling teams end regular season with a bang. Get ready for state

The Mid-Columbia Conference boys wrestling regular season couldn’t have ended any better.

The final night of the season pitted 7-0 Hermiston visiting 6-1 Chiawana for either an outright Bulldogs’ MCC title, or both teams sharing the hardware.

The visiting Bulldogs opened the match by winning the first four matches, led by a pin at 126 pounds by Hermiston’s Jayden Martinez, to take an 18-0 lead.

But the Riverhawks fought back with seven consecutive wins. Those included pins by Daeton Johnson (144 pounds), Tayten Cissne (165), Tully Cruger (175), and Memphys Miller (190).

But the biggest win in that stretch may have come at 215 pounds, when Landon Bolson rallied late in the match to an 11-9 victory over Robert Akers. Bolson scored the key takedown in the final seconds for the win.

That gave Chiawana what turned out the be an insurmountable 37-18 lead.

Hermiston would rally over the final three matches for victories, but the Riverhawks won 37-34.

“Tonight we got the bonus points and pins,” said Chiawana head coach Manny Plata, who mentioned Bolson’s win as key. “(Bolson) was hurt on Monday. He was sore and we were trying to keep him moving all week. He wanted this bad for his teammates.”

Both teams finished with 7-1 MCC records, and Chiawana athletic director John Cazier let each squad take turns posing for pictures with the first-place trophy on Thursday.

The evening was a great way for both state powerhouses to get ready for the postseason.

“That’s a great team over there,” said Hermiston head coach Kyle Larson. “It absolutely was great to see each other. We just didn’t get the bonus (back) points tonight.”

With both teams in different classifications — Chiawana in 4A and Hermiston in 3A — they won’t see each other from here on out.

In the offseason, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) executive board approved allowing the number of each weight class participants be expanded from 16 to 32.

It expands Mat Classic XXXVI in the Tacoma Dome from two full days to three — although wrestlers will compete in no more than two days.

It also allows a number of kids who might not have had the experience to wrestle on the Tacoma Dome floor to get that chance to complete at state.

But what it also does is eliminate the regional tournaments between the district and state events.

Plata is OK with that.

“This new format will give some of our guys a chance to get healthy, because it’ll be about 1 ½ weeks between tournaments,” said Plata.

Both Larson and Plata believe they can take 15 wrestlers each to the Tacoma Dome for the state tournament.

If that happens, they’ll have a good chance at a state team title.

“I think we’ve got some No. 2’s who can get in,” said Plata. “Also, we’re wrestling Mead this coming weekend (at the District 6 tournament) so we’ll see where we stand.”

District tournaments

The Class 4A District 6 boys tournament will be at Pasco High School on Friday, Feb. 7 (4 p.m. start), and continue on Saturday, Feb. 8 (10 a.m. start).

The tournament will include wrestlers from both the MCC and Greater Spokane League.

The top five placers in each weight class advances to the state tournament.

• The Class 3A District 6 boys tourney has the same Friday and Saturday start times, but it will all be at Hermiston High School. The top six placers in each weight class advance to the state tournament.
• The 3A and 4A girls district tournament will run together at Hanford High School both Friday and Saturday. Same start times as the boys tournaments above. However, both classifications will have their own state tournaments this year with the continued growth in the sport.

There will four state berths per weight class in the 4A girls, while the 3A tourney offers six state berths in each weight class.

MCC girls bowling

If there is one word to describe this year’s Mid-Columbia Conference season in girls bowling, it’s this: Kamiakin.

The Braves dominated the MCC season with a perfect 16-0 regular-season record; had the best team average a game at 165.5 pins; had the best Baker score average at 161.7 pins; had the best total score (3,890 pins) among all nine teams at last week’s district bowling tournament; had two of the five first-team all-conference bowlers; and had the MCC Coach of the Year.

The Braves dominated the 4A district tourney, with Clara Demarest, Alyssa Martinez, Lilliana Martinez, Samantha Martinez, and Grace Hubbert earning one of the MCC’s two 4A state-tournament berths.

Kamiakin head coach Scott Biglin earned Coach of the Year honors, while Demarest and Alyssa Martinez were named first-team All-MCC. Demarest, with a conference-best average of 188.6 this season, was named MCC Bowler of the Year.

Joining them on the first team was Kennewick’s Lexi’s McGarrity and Samantha McMaster; as well as Richland’s Ali LeMieux. McGarrity had the season-high score of 247 in one game.

Joining Kamiakin at the state tournament — which is this week at Bowlero in Tukwila — will be Richland. The Bombers placed sixth in the regular-season standings with an 8-8 record, but got hot at the right time at the district tournament with 3,433 pins.

Bombers junior Miley Lakey rolled games of 200 and 211 and finished with a three-game total of 589 to place first. She’ll be joined at 4A state by teammates LeMieux, Brooke Smith, Maya Clark, and Elisaveta Johnson.

Four individuals also qualified for the 4A state tourney: Hanford’s Amari Caiceros, Pasco’s Sadie Fredrickson and Abigail Hernandez, and Chiawana’s Ashlee Senda.

The MCC 3A district tournament offered one state tournament team berth, and that was earned by the Kennewick Lions with a 3,819 pin total.

McMaster rolled a 219 and finished with a 598 series to finish first. She’ll be joined at state by McGarrity, Melissa Mendoza, Lilyanna Hooper, Madison Oldenkamp, Anna Hardin, and Rainey Lamb.

Three individuals also qualified for the 3A state tournament: Southridge’s Katelyn Consans (who won a one-game roll off for the final spot), and Hermiston’s Lily Fields and Alea Garrett.

• Here’s the state tournament schedule this week at Bowlero: 3A tourney begins at 9 a.m., Wednesday with individual competition; Baker team play starts at 9 a.m., Thursday; the 1A/2A and 4A individual portion of the state tournament begins at 8:15 a.m. on Friday; and the Baker team play for both classifications starts at 8 a.m. on Saturday.
• Final MCC girls bowling regular-season standings: 1, Kamiakin 16-0; 2, Kennewick 13-3; 3, Hermiston 10-6; 4 (tie), Chiawana and Pasco, both 9-7; 6, Richland 8-8; 7, Walla Walla 4-12; 8, Southridge 3-13; 9, Hanford 0-16.

This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 11:13 AM.