White River, Orting duking it out for second place in 2A at Mat Classic XXXII
Day one of Mat Classic XXXII is in the books, with the semifinal and final rounds looming on Saturday for the Washington state wrestling tournament.
Toppenish High School, located just south of Yakima, is the clear front-runner in Class 2A, leading with 136 points after the first day, but locals White River (106.5) and Orting (105.5) are duking it out for the second spot.
White River advanced five wrestlers to tomorrow’s semifinal round, led by defending state champion Gabriel Hawthorne in the 152-pound weight class. who earned pins in each of his first two rounds on Friday in the 152-pound weight class.
“I act like I haven’t won (a title) before,” Hawthorne said. “It’s a new year, anything can happen. I just want to wrestle hard.”
Indeed, he wrestled hard on Friday, pinning both of his opponents in the first two rounds.
“He’s just tough in all aspects,” said White River coach Ruben Navejas. “He just does everything correctly. He’s never that kid you have to worry about, he’s always putting in the extra work. He’s always in the gym, always running, helping his teammates. Gabe is just tough — he’s just frickin’ tough. And he’s strong and it shows.”
170-pounder Jared Rodarte also had a strong day for the Hornets, winning by fall in his opening round and a 9-3 decision in the quarterfinals to advance to tomorrow’s semifinals, one year after tearing his ACL and missing his junior season.
“It was a tough rehab, he was out for seven or eight months,” Navejas said. “We have a tough wrestling room, so that’s tough right there. He was working through some aches or pains and now he knows the positions to put himself into.”
In 220, White River’s Cyrus Wheeler earned a win over Othello’s Elijah Roylance, who had beat Wheeler in last year’s Mat Classic and twice this year. Not this time.
“He’s had our number the last four or five matches,” Navejas said. “I don’t know what it was, Cyrus just decided this is the day he was going to beat him. So it was awesome to see.”
The big surprise for White River came in the 126-pound weight class, when defending champion Nate Belcourt was disqualified against Pullman’s Gabriel Smith.
“It’s unfortunate what happened on our end,” Navejas said. “But we just move forward from here.”
Orting, meanwhile, finished the day in a virtual tie with White River. The young team didn’t have all the ‘50/50’ matches go their way, in the eyes of coach Jody Coleman, but the team still set three wrestlers through to the semifinals. With a young team, Coleman didn’t expect all of his wrestlers to wind up contending for state titles.
“It wasn’t a best-case scenario by any means, but so far, everyone has battled back through the backside in this third round,” Coleman said. “And that’s one thing I’m really proud of our kids. They just have guts. They’re not afraid to get third or fourth. If that’s where they’re supposed to be, then that’s where they’re supposed to be, and they’re going to earn it. They don’t give up.”
Orting’s strongest performance of the day may have been from 126-pounder Conor Goucher, a runner-up in 120 last year. Goucher won both his matches on Friday by pin.
“He’s a monster,” Coleman said. “He’s really just taken that next step to the next level. He’s a great kid in the room, a great teammate. He pushed himself in the offseason, did some Fargo stuff. Anywhere he could find an open mat, he was going. He was seeking out kids in the state that could beat him. He’s just really done some good things like that.”
132-pounder Owen Cline, who won his first match before losing a 10-6 decision to Ellensburg’s Francisco Ayala in the quarterfinals, said he believes Orting has a good shot at a top-three finish.
“We’re really, really underrated, which we like to be,” Cline said. “We’re going to show everyone it’s O-Town. We just all have to wrestle for each other. If we wrestle as a team, we’re going to win this thing. … We have some guys that can do it but they don’t know it yet.”
TAHOMA AIMING FOR STRONG FINISH IN CLASS 4A
In 4A, Tahoma is the closest local to the top spot, sitting in fifth after the first day with 60 points. Despite sitting in fifth, coach Chris Feist and his squad are still optimistic at a shot at the top.
“It’s wrestling, there’s always a chance,” Feist said. “We just have to go out, wrestle our best match. A lot of things can happen for us, a lot of things can happen for them. We just try to stay present in each match and think about the things that we can control. We can’t do anything about how the other teams are doing. We just have to keep our energy up, prepare to wrestle and see what happens.”
120-pounder Yusief Lillie, part of this year’s class of The News Tribune’s Untouchables, made quick work of his first two opponents, pinning both.
“He has great pace, good hands and feet motion,” Feist said. “He’s a very technical wrestler, always looking to score points.”
That goes for teammate Steele Starren, too, a teammate wrestling in the 145-pound weight class.
“They’re very similar,” Feist said. “They’re training partners. (Starren) moves really smooth, always looking to score points as long as there’s time on the clock. A very technical wrestler. They train really hard to wrestle for six minutes at a super high pace. You combo that high pace with technique and motion and that’s difficult for anyone to stay with.”
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 10:40 PM.
