Orting crowns six individual champions at Mat Classic XXXIII, wins program’s first 2A title
Every few minutes Saturday evening, a similar scene would play out on the Class 2A championship mat.
An Orting High School wrestler would grapple with his opponent. Then — whether by pin or decision — add another individual title to the Cardinals’ list. He would turn toward the crowd and lift his hands in the air to form an ‘O’ as they cheered. And then join longtime coach Jody Coleman — sporting a full red suit and shiny, golden shoes — the Cardinals’ coaching staff and teammates in celebration.
“It just feels so good to wrap it up — and a perfect way to end the season,” Cardinals senior Owen Cline said after ending his high school career with a 138-pound title.
“I can’t ask for a better group of boys. They’re my rocks, man. Every day training. It’s just awesome.”
Orting sent six wrestlers to the semifinals at Mat Classic XXXIII, six to the finals and the program left the Tacoma Dome with six individual state champions.
The Cardinals also wrapped up their first team championship as a 2A school after finishing as the runners-up in the classification at four of the past five state meets. (The program won four consecutive titles at the 1A level from 2009-12.)
Including the six champions, Orting had 10 wrestlers reach the podium in the boys division, and had the team title locked up before the thrilling finals rounds even began. By the time it was all over, the Cardinals collected 214.5 points, finishing well ahead of the three other 2A podium finishers in Selah (157), Othello (136.5) and W.F. West (127).
“They’re just battled tested,” Coleman said of his group this season. “Confident. We don’t have anybody that’s undefeated on our team because I put them out in front of the toughest kids I could find. I just knew they were confident and ready.”
One by one, they dismantled their brackets.
Orting produced four individual winners before any other school produced one, sweeping the first four rounds of the 2A finals.
Freshman Alan Salguero opened by besting Burlington-Edison’s Chris Lopez Gonzales by 12-3 major decision in the 106-pound championship match.
Freshman Quentin Harding followed with an 8-0 major decision over Black Hills’ Mikey Johnston at 113.
Sophomore Apollo Cruz shut out his opponent at 120, topping Pullman’s Aydin Peltier by 7-0 decision.
Sophomore Bryan Dickerson won by 10-2 major decision over Grandview’s Evan Benitez at 126.
Orting didn’t have a finalist in the 132-pound weight class, but Cline continued the winning trend at 138 with a 6-2 decision over Pullman’s Ivan Acosta.
Five classes later, junior Dalton Reed wasted no time completing the Cardinals’ impressive run of titles in the 182-pound match, pinning Prosser’s Nehemiah Michael Medrano in 45 seconds.
What propelled this Orting team to such a dominant finish?
“Just heart,” Cline said. “They’re the first ones there congratulating me. I was the first one congratulating them. When you put blood, sweat and tears for so many years that it finally pays off, it’s just an awesome feeling.”
A feeling most of Orting’s state placers will have the opportunity to chase again. Eight of them are underclassmen, meaning this Cardinals program figures to be just as stacked in the seasons ahead.
“It’s going to be a good couple years,” Coleman said.
Elsewhere in the team races, defending champion White River (171.5 points) couldn’t quite get its repeat in the girls division, but did finish runner-up behind Toppenish (206). Curtis (81) and Yelm (79) also finished in the top four.
Hornets junior Shelby Moore, who won an individual title at 130 pounds, said the work her team put in still paid off regardless of the final finish.
White River had seven podium finishers, including three who advanced to the final round.
“My team showed up for each other, we showed up for ourselves and I think it was a good tournament,” Moore said.
Moore, who took third as a freshman in 2020, wrapped up an undefeated season by pinning each of her three opponents this weekend, including Marysville-Pilchuck’s Juju Kilroy in 1:54 in the 130-pound final.
She is the second wrestler in her family to win a state title in the past five years, joining her older brother Nathan, who was a three-time state champion at White River from 2017-19.
“It’s just been a long time coming,” she said. “It feels so good to finally get what I wanted, and I’m glad to follow my dad and my brother’s legacy and be here and just wrestling my best, so I’m really thankful.”
Moore was also a member of The News Tribune’s 2022 class of “Untouchables,” which this season included 12 wrestlers from around the state who all advanced to the state finals.
Eleven of the wrestlers in the class — Chiawana’s Isaiah Anderson (4A, 195 pounds), Granger’s Gage Cook (2B/1B, 285), Mountain View’s C.J. Hamblin (3A, 182), Chiawana’s Darion Johnson (4A, 182), Bremerton’s Thor Michaelson (2A, 160), North Central’s Kenndyl Mobley (3A, 120), Toppenish’s Abel Nava Jr. (1A, 152), University’s Q’Veli Quintanilla (3A, 145), Moore, Toppenish’s Isabella Morales (Girls, 100) and Marysville-Pilchuck’s Alivia White (Girls, 190) — won championships.
Led by its three individual title winners, Chiawana won the 4A team race at 166.5 points, followed by Sunnyside (145) and locals South Kitsap (109) and Graham-Kapowsin (106).
South Kitsap crowned back-to-back champions in sophomore Stone Hartford, who pinned Union’s Dylan Dalgord in 5:58 in the 120-pound match and junior Mitchell Neiner, who topped Gonzaga Prep’s Joshua Neiwert by 3-2 decision at 126. The Wolves produced five total podium finishes.
Graham-Kapowsin’s six podium finishes were enough to edge Tahoma (105), which had four state placers, including the 170-pound champion in junior Christopher Neal.
Toppenish ran away with the 1A title with a mind-blowing 402 points — the most a team has scored in any classification in Mat Classic history — sent 17 wrestlers to the podium and crowned 10 champions in the 14 weight classes.
Eatonville (100 points) had five state placers and was the only local to podium in the 1A team race, tying for second place with Deer Park. Mount Baker (99) rounded out the top four.
Granger (161.5) edged Tonasket (156.5) for the 2B/1B team title, Lake Roosevelt (87) took third and Forks (85.5) fourth.
Mead (236.5) decisively won the 3A team race, while Hermiston (171), University (171) and Mount Spokane (162) also finished atop the podium. South Sound power Yelm barely missed out on a top-four finish with 156 points, though senior Logan Platt won an individual title at 195 pounds.
This story was originally published February 19, 2022 at 10:58 PM.
