Colville wrestlers win district crown at Freeman

February 8, 2012

Colville High School won its second straight District 7 1A championship last Saturday and will be a favorite to win the regional title this Saturday at Colville High School. Wrestling starts at about 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. Wrestling photos courtesy of Shelly Jones.

Colville hosts regional
wrestling

Colville High made it two District 7 1A wrestling titles in a row last Saturday at Freeman High School. The Indians, who annexed the Northeast A League dual meet championship last week, will host Saturday’s regional meet.
Weigh-in is from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., with wrestling scheduled to get started at around 9:30 a.m. Meet Director is Colville High Principal, Kevin Knight.
The regional, a first for CHS, will feature qualifying wrestlers from the Northeast A and Caribou-Trail leagues.
Chelan annexed last weekend’s CTL District 6 meet.
The Indians amassed 329.5 points on Saturday to outdistance second place Riverside’s 288.5 for the District 7 title.
Colville crowned five champions at Freeman. The Indians had eight finalists and 18 top-five finishers.

CHS titles

Winning championships for the Indians were NEA unbeatens Tyler Ward (106) Trenton Welton (138), Tanner Smith (145) and Chandler Knight (170), along with sophomore Jesse Morrison at 120.
Finishing second for Colville were Josh Hamilton at 126 and Ben Knight at 113.
Consolation winners (third and fourth place) for Colville were Austin Donough, fourth at 113 pounds; Skyler Donner, third at 126 pounds; Grady Nelson, third at 132 pounds; Colyn Lindback, fourth at 138 pounds; Julio Valencia, third at 152 pounds; Hunter LeCaire, fourth at 182 pounds.
Finishing fifth for Colville were Alex Linn at 106 pounds; James Rains at 145; Frank Stinson at 160 and Brock VanQuekelberg at 182.
CHS wrestling coach Randy Cloke was understandably pleased to get 14 wrestlers through to the regional, where the Indians are one of the favorites.
“We wrestled well—eight finalists and five champions is not a bad day,” Cloke said on Monday. “Once again, it was our wrestlers pinning their opponents that helped us pull away from Riverside, Lakeside and Freeman.”
The day got started early last Saturday—very early.
“It all started at 4:30 a.m. when we all showed up on weight…it made for a long day, but it made it easier not having to lose weight on the bus ride,” Cloke pointed out. “We had a great week of practice leading up…we are peaking at the right time.”

Nothing past 182

Cloke was concerned about the Indians’ depth going in without a possible point scorer past 182 pounds.
“But everybody came through,” Cloke added. “Every single one of our 21 wrestlers (at District) scored points for us in the tournament…14 qualifiers and four alternates is a great showing.”
Those numbers also constitute at least a modern-day record for Colville wrestling in terms of advancement to a regional tournament.
AT A GLANCE
Tyler Ward at 106 pounds held off Lakeside’s ZJacob Ulland, scoring a near fall to win 12-11.
“Tyler didn’t panic and kept wrestling his way back after giving up several points early,” his coach related. “He just didn’t quit wrestling.”
At 113 pounds, Ben Knight lost the final to returning state placer Hodie Judd, who was down at 113 for the first time this season.
The surprise of the tournament came at 120 pounds, where unseeded Aaron Buckley beat the number one seed, Ivan Love of Riverside, in overtime.

Unseeded and unheralded Buckley pulls off a stunner.

“Buckley put Love on his back at the end of regulation to score a three-point near fall and force the match into overtime,” Cloke explained.
In overtime, Buckley took over, taking down the Riverside wrestler to win 18-16.
Buckley’s quarterfinal win led to a semifinal win and an all-Colville final at 120 pounds with Jesse Morrison, who was able to pin his teammate to win the title.
At 126 pounds, Skyler Donner finished third after losing a battle with top-seeded Klint Brown of Lakeside. With 21 seconds left in the match, it was tied up when Donner got to his feet for an escape. But Brown returned Donner to the mat and scored a near fall to avoid overtime.
Brown then faced Colville’s Josh Hamilton in the finals in a rematch of last Thursday’s dual with the Lakeside wrestler.
With most of the match contested upright and from their feet, Brown was able to pick up three takedowns to hold off the tenacious Hamilton, 6-5.
“Josh had a chance to win at the end and just came up short,” Cloke said, “but he was able to close the gap from a major decision (loss) last week to a one-point margin.”
At 138 pounds, Colyn Lindback gave up a caution for improper starting position to force an overtime with Chewelah’s Isaiah Kenny. In overtime, Lindback once again was penalized for starting before the whistle.
“That was also scored as a caution and resulted in loss of match,” Cloke explained. “That prevented an all-Colville showdown at 138 pounds between Lindback and Trenton Welton.”
Welton went on to pin Joey Allen of Riverside in the finals at 138.
At 145 pounds, Tanner Smith pinned Brayden Proctor of Riverside. Earlier in the meet, Proctor had upset Dalton Mudgett of Chewelah.
Colville’s Julio Valencia finished third at 152 pounds and standout Nevada transfer Chandler Knight pinned Dustin Crabtree of Riverside in the finale at 170. Knight surrendered only one point all tournament long. The point he gave up was when Knight let his opponent loose to take him down again.
Hunter LeCaire finished fourth for Colville
OUTLOOK THIS WEEK
Cloke thinks the Indians can get 10 to 12 of their 14 wrestlers through the Colville regional and to Mat Classic “if we can wrestle like we did on Saturday (at Freeman). Those guys all have legitimate shots.”
Riverside qualified more wrestlers to the Colville regional, but the Rams also have more four seeds. The Indians are packed with two’s and three’s.
“Like I said, if we can wrestle like we did last Saturday, we have a great shot,” Cloke added.
Cloke and fellow coaches were appreciative of the great support the team got at Freeman on Saturday.
“It was very impressive,” Cloke said of the big Colville contingent. “We had the biggest crowd there (at Freeman). We took up a whole section. I hope we can see that Saturday back in our house at Colville. It would be great to fill the place.”
TENTATIVE BRACKET
First round match-ups for the Indians in the Region 6-7 Tournament Saturday at Colville.
106—Colville’s Tyler Ward vs. Tonasket’s Tim Frazier. 113—Austin Donough vs. Jared Stedtfeld of Tonasket and Ben Knight vs. Ivan Reyes of Chelan. 120—Aaron Buckley vs. Cleider Guillen of Chelan and Jesse Morrison vs. Levan Sabahkrorashvik. 126—Josh Hamilton vs. Ryker Marchand of Tonasket and Skyler Donner vs. Jeffrey Stedtfeld of Tonasket. 132—Grady Nelson vs. James Stolhammer of Cascade.
138—Colyn Linback vs. James Jacob of Cashmere and Trenton Welton vs. Marcos Fonseca of Okanogan. 145—Tanner Smith vs. Colton Colwell of Cashmere. 152—Julio Valencia vs. Josh Powell of Cashmere. 170—Chandler Knight vs. Connor Howe of Omak. 182—Hunter LeCaire vs. Cole Schwartz of Chelan.
SCORING
Colville, 329.5. Riverside, 288.5. Freeman, 201. Lakeside, 199. Chewelah, 162.5 and Newport, 25.
CHAMPIONSHIP
106—Ward (CHS) d. Ulland (Lak), 12-11.
113—Judd (Lak) d. Knight, 11-3.
120—Morrison (CHS) p. Buckley, :55.
126—Brown Lak) d. Hamilton (CHS), 6-5.
132—Major (Riv) p. Cox (Chew), 1:05.
138—Welton (CHS) p. Allen (Riv) 1:38.
145—Smith (CHS) d. Proctor (Riv) 9-4.
152—Glidewell (Fr) d. Smith (Chew), 6-1.
160—Fuson (Lak) d. Judd (Lak), 3-2.
170—Knight (CHS) p. Crabtree (Riv), 1:03.
182—Schweiger (Fr) p. King (Lak) 4:44.
195—Hause (Lak) p. Hanley-Podoll (Chew), 2:08.
220—Bender (Riv) p. Te. Glidewell (Fr), :29.
285—Smetana (Fr) d. Peterson (Riv.), 6-1.