By Greg Lee, NWPrepsNow.com
It’s the kind of team championship that can lead to bigger things.
At least that’s what Post Falls is hoping for.
A week after a second-place finish at the Inland Empire Classic, the Post Falls wrestling team stormed through the door at the 43rd annual Tri-State, winning its first title in dominating fashion Saturday at North Idaho College.
The Trojans posted 202 points with three individual champs and another finalist. Moses Lake was second, 36 points behind Post Falls, and University took third (144.5).
Post Falls’ Drake Foster (126 pounds), TJ Wolf (132) and Seth McLeod (182) captured titles.
“Special would be an understatement,” Post Falls coach Pete Reardon said. “We’re just super blessed. Our kids wrestled their butts off. We have great leaders. It’s really starting to pay off. Turning the corner and winning this is so big.”
Foster, who reached the final for a third time, started things off with a 5-2 win. He gave up an early takedown but controlled thereafter.
Falling behind early didn’t faze Foster.
“That’s not unusual,” he said. “It happens a lot in our (training) room. I just had to keep my head in the game, hustle and pick up the pace a little bit.”
In the next match, Wolf also won 5-2 over Cam Sorensen of University, scoring a takedown early in the third and one at the buzzer.
Then McLeod, competing a second time in the finals, posted a pin in 3:55.
“It feels a lot better to win,” McLeod said, noting he got caught in a throw in the final last year and was flattened.
But McLeod was more amped by the team win than his victory.
“Knowing I could help my team out, that’s so much bigger to me,” he said.
McLeod believes the Tri-State title is the beginning of big things this year.
“It’s big to show our potential,” McLeod said. “We bust our butt in the room and to have it pay off here at a big tournament is special. We have all the tools to be able to win a state title for sure as long as we’re working hard and putting in the time.”
Post Falls has finished second twice and third at state recently.
“We wrestled really well,” Reardon said. “We stepped up a couple of notches for this one after last week.”
There were 12 area finalists.
North Central senior Izaec Quintanilla captured a third straight Tri-State title, winning by major decision at 170.
“I was really nervous,” said Quintanilla, who’s also seeking a third consecutive state title. “Not too many people have done that.”
U-Hi heavyweight Tate Orndorff defended his title, chasing down Post Falls’ Justin Farnsworth for a 9-3 decision.
Orndorff is used to opponents not engaging. He was especially pleased Saturday after losing in the final in a major tournament in Ohio last week.
“I wanted to make a statement here,” Orndorff said. “(Last week) I was winning and I tried a throw and got caught on my back. This means so much.”
TJ Baun of Colville also pulled off a repeat, defeating Coe Rohan of LaGrande, Oregon, 8-4 at 106.
Sophomore Dalton Young of Lakeside repeated, scoring the quickest pin, 15 seconds, at 120.
“I just stayed on the attack,” Young said. “The key here was finding legs.”
In an all-area final at 152, East Valley’s Trey Meyer held off Ian Cox of Colville 7-3.
The match was full of action. Cox got an escape for a 3-2 lead to open the third, but Meyer countered with a takedown and near fall points to secure the victory.
In other finals, Alex Cruz of Orting won by technical fall at 98; Case Wickman of Vashon Island pinned Lakeland freshman Larry Johnson at 113; Fred Green of Orting, who was named the outstanding wrestler, topped Jake Douglas of Lake Stevens 4-2 at 138; Spencer Rich of Rocky Mountain edged Chase Clasen of Moses Lake 3-1 at 145; at 160, Alex Aguilar of Omak decisioned Mason McDaniel of Juanita 5-2; Sam Colbray of Hermiston tripped Cody Vigoren of LS 3-2 at 195; and Colin Hammock of Missoula-Sentinel won 9-7 over Dallas Goodpaster of Evergeen at 220.
Wrestling Tri-State Meet
at North Idaho College
TEAM SCORES:
1, Post Falls 202. 2, Moses Lake 166. 3, University 144.5. 4, Tahoma 138. 5, Lake Stevens 135. 6, Kuna 115. 7, Orting 113.5. 8, East Valley 108. T9, Bethel, Colville 103.5.
11, Central Valley 95. 12, Hermiston 93. 13, North Central 88. 14, Lakeland 87. 15, Havre 86.5. 16, Sentinel 78.5. 17, Freeman 68.5. 18, Chiawana 67. T19, Auburn, Union, Vashon Island 66.
22, Mead 61.5. 23, McCall Donnelly 59. 24, Lakeside 57. T25, Lake City, Rocky Mountain 55. 27, Sandpoint 52. 28, Todd Beamer 51. 29, Royal 49. 30, Liberty Bell 48.5.
31, Deer Park 47. 32, Tonasket 45.5. T33, Kentridge, Timberlake 44. 35, Couer d'Alene 43. 36, Kellogg 39. 37, Juanita 37. 38, Graham Kapowsin 36. 39, Liberty Issaquah 35. 40, St. Marie's 33.5.
41, Omak 32. 42, Libby 31. T43, Blaine, Evergreen, LaGrande, Meadowdale 30. 47, Kent Lake 29. 48, Kamiakin 27. 49, Rochester 26. 50, Darrington 25.
T51, Liberty Spangle, Mt. Spokane 24. 53, Frenchtown 22. 54, Reardan 21. T55, Mary Walker, Potlatch 20. 57, Ferris 19. 58, Wapato 14. T59, Gonzaga Prep, Polson, Quincy, Washington 12.
T63, Bonners Ferry, Kelso, Northwest Christian 10. 66, Selkirk 9. T67, Moscow, Riverside 0.
98 pounds
1st Place Match
Alex Cruz (Orting) tf. Justin Hoyle (Tahoma) 17-2.
3rd Place Match
Kreede Peterson (Kuna) md. Caleb Bagnell (Frenchtown) 8-0.
5th Place Match
Luke Larson (Vashon Island) md. William Edelblute (Lakeland) 9-1.
7th Place Match
Devyn Sweem (Bethel) p. Noah Herbert (Timberlake) 0:36.
106 pounds
1st Place Match
TJ Baun (Colville) d. Cole Rohan (LaGrande) 8-4.
3rd Place Match
Derek Freitag (Kentridge) p. Riley Gurr (Kamiakin) 3:25.
5th Place Match
Ethan Rotondo (Union) d. Jesus Cornejo (Moses Lake) 7-1.
7th Place Match
Mason Eaglin (Graham Kapowsin) md. Matt McLeod (Post Falls) 10-2.
113 pounds
1st Place Match
Chase Wickman (Vashon Island) p. Larry Johnson (Lakeland) 2:23.
3rd Place Match
Braydon Huber (Post Falls) d. Keegan Kennelly (Havre) 5-3.
5th Place Match
Trey Long (Moses Lake) d. Tyler Headland (Lake Stevens) 7-6.
7th Place Match
Cameron Swanson (University) d. Cameron Brown (Polson) 3-2.
120 pounds
1st Place Match
Dalton Young (Lakeside) p. Cooper McCullough (Moses Lake) 0:16.
3rd Place Match
Nick Whitehead (Tahoma) p. Trent Skelton (Liberty Bell) 0:38.
5th Place Match
Rob Pair (McCall Donnelly) id. Alex Rodrigo (Lake Stevens) 0:00.
7th Place Match
Clai Qunitanilla (North Central) d. Chad Simonson (Graham Kapowsin) 10-7.
126 pounds
1st Place Match
Drake Foster (Post Falls) d. Seth Lowen (McCall Donnelly) 5-2.
3rd Place Match
Bryson Beard (Central Valley) d. Hunter Cruz (Moses Lake) 2-0.
5th Place Match
Andy Wagner (Hermiston) d. Justin Sipila (Tahoma) 7-4.
7th Place Match
Balteer Rana (Auburn) id. Carlos Hernandez (Royal) 0:00.
132 pounds
1st Place Match
Tyler Wolf (Post Falls) d. Cam Sorensen (University) 5-2.
3rd Place Match
Grayson Brenna (Havre) d. Michael Soler (Lake Stevens) 2-1.
5th Place Match
Dylan Lockwood (Couer d'Alene) d. Kain Feltwell (Liberty Spangle) 5-2.
7th Place Match
Ben Gore (Orting) p. Max Miller (Rocky Mountain) 3:23.
138 pounds
1st Place Match
Fred Green (Orting) d. Jake Douglas (Lake Stevens) 4-2.
3rd Place Match
Blake Beard (Central Valley) ultimate tiebreaker Parker Filius (Havre) 1-1.
5th Place Match
Blake Ivie (Kellogg) d. Alius Delarosa (Post Falls) 2-0.
7th Place Match
Corde Ferreira (Graham Kapowsin) ultimate tiebreaker. Jake Lords (Kuna) 3-2.
145 pounds
1st Place Match
Spencer Rich (Rocky Mountain) d. Chase Clasen (Moses Lake) 3-1.
3rd Place Match
Emmett Fink (Liberty Bell) p. Jorge Juarez (Tonasket) 2:21.
5th Place Match
Dante` Springsteen (Bethel) md. Kody Pribyl (Havre) 12-3.
7th Place Match
Sean Van Earwage (Todd Beamer) id. Braedon Orrino (Central Valley) 0:00.
152 pounds
1st Place Match
Trey Meyer (East Valley) d. Ian Cox (Colville) 7-3.
3rd Place Match
Zach Crace (Libby) d. Tyler Badertscher (Timberlake) 7-0.
5th Place Match
Garrett Brown (Lakeside) d. Cody Appa (McCall Donnelly) 6-0.
7th Place Match
Josh Richmond (St. Marie`s ) p. Jesse Schmidlkofer (Freeman) 1:50.
160 pounds
1st Place Match
Alex Aguilar (Omak) d. Mason McDaniel (Juanita) 5-2.
3rd Place Match
Lucas Eastman (Rochester) p. Hudson Mauseth (Moses Lake) 1:16.
5th Place Match
Josh Beckler (Kent Lake) ultimate tiebreaker Logan Nelson (Vashon Island) 3-2.
7th Place Match
Ryley Smith (Colville) p. Ben Alford (Northwest Christian ) 3:51.
170 pounds
1st Place Match
Izaec Quintanilla (North Central) md. Darrin Miller (Royal) 10-0.
3rd Place Match
Conner Small (Liberty Issaquah) p. Ben Knight (Colville) 2:27.
5th Place Match
Casey Randles (Sandpoint) p. Michael Snediker (Union) 0:51.
7th Place Match
Javier Martinez (Union) d. Bob Coleman (Hermiston) 5-1.
182 pounds
1st Place Match
Seth McLeod (Post Falls) p. Levi Perry (Kuna) 3:55.
3rd Place Match
Bryson Pierce (North Central) d. Alex Berfanger (Union) 4-2.
5th Place Match
Josey Anderson (Reardan) d. Chauncye Garigan (Central Valley) 7-6.
7th Place Match
Romney Noel (Liberty Issaquah) d. John-Henry Line (Hermiston) 7-1.
195 pounds
1st Place Match
Sam Colbray (Hermiston) d. Cody Vigoren (Lake Stevens) 3-2.
3rd Place Match
Sebastian Hyta (Freeman) d. Adam Hokenson (Tahoma) 12-5.
5th Place Match
Eli TeuTeu (Bethel) id. Killian Estes (Lakeland) 0:00.
7th Place Match
Jason Aebischer (Deer Park) p. Jake Williams (Sandpoint) 0:30.
220 pounds
1st Place Match
Colin Hammock (Sentinel) d. Dallas Goodpaster (Evergreen) 9-7.
3rd Place Match
Timothy J Smith (Meadowdale) d. Mason Mckenzie (Darrington) 3-2.
5th Place Match
Levi Mcbride (Chiawana) p. Dylan Morris (Moses Lake) 0:20.
7th Place Match
Kenny Martinez (East Valley) d. Conor Shepherd (Lakeland) 5-3.
285 pounds
1st Place Match
Tate Orndorff (University) d. Justin Farnsworth (Post Falls) 9-3.
3rd Place Match
Hunter Mullins (Orting) d. Jacob Apodaca (Auburn) 3-1.
5th Place Match
Zion Dixon (Lake City) p. Avyion Fisher (Bethel) 2:33.
7th Place Match
Justin Sainsbury (Moses Lake) p. Kingston Suka (Tahoma) 5:52.