U-Hi’s Titans, Pigdogs pack punch

The hosts showed their mettle in more ways than one during University High’s Pacific Northwest Classic wrestling tournament.

U-Hi, by sending five wrestlers into the finals and winning four titles on Saturday, scored 216 points to hold off Flathead (Mont.) of Kalispell (197) and Stanwood (171.5).

That didn’t even count the Titans’ August Pope, who placed second at 171 pounds. Pope wrestled for U-Hi’s second team, the Pigdogs.

“It kind of surprised me,” said Pope, who won the Deer Park Tournament earlier this year. “I got lucky, I guess.”

The Pigdogs had three top-six finishers to go with 10 placing U-Hi regulars. It was another show of depth for U-Hi, but also elicited mixed feelings from coach Don Owen.

“I’m haggard right now,” he said. “I know what to expect from these kids. When you have 30 or 40 of them, whatever I had in this tournament, there were a lot of disappointments along with some of the wins.”

Owen added, however, that he was proud of the way his varsity wrestled.

“Especially this last run,” Owen said. “We had some really good matches in the finals and consolation finals.”

U-Hi’s champions included Cory Fish, named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler. Fish was dominant with his second win this year over two-time state champion Anthony Vela of Moses Lake. Fish won 6-2, including a first-period near fall that kept Vela on his back in a bridge to prevent being pinned.

At 135 pounds, Trevor Robb of the Titans found himself on his back and behind 6-0 against Auburn Riverside’s Austin Springer, but stormed back to a 16-6 win.

“I let him get in front at the beginning of the match to see what happens,” Robb said. “Not really. I went for a single-leg takedown and he knew a move to get me on my back.”

Robb got off his back and won going away.

“I wasn’t going to let him do anything else after that,” Robb said.

Freshman Brian Owen won U-Hi’s first championship, at 103, defeating Kyle Johnson from Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls 5-0. U-Hi’s Jeremy Montang beat two-time state placer Jadon Redding of Auburn Riverside 5-1 at 140 to complete the title-winning quartet. Nick Zumwalt of the Titans was second at 160 pounds.

In one of the night’s top matches, unbeaten Lakeside junior Levi Jones, a State 2A finalist last year, used a lateral drop throw in the final 5 seconds for four points and a 7-5 win over State 4A placer Nate Powell from Lewis and Clark at 125.

“It’s for sure good to hit at the end of match when you have to gamble for a win,” said Jones, who had done the same thing to win the Tri-State tournament earlier this season.

“He caught me by surprise,” said Powell. “But I can’t complain. You don’t get a lot of good matches like that.”

Jones’ title was one of two by the fifth-place Eagles – Jon Millard beat Zumwalt for the other. Lakeside placed eight among the tourney’s top six.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had that many here,” said Eagles coach Scott Jones, Levi’s dad. “That’s a pretty good accomplishment for our guys right now.”

Central Valley’s Luke Chesher, a state placer, won his first tournament title after several second places, with a late takedown at 130 pounds. Teammate Camren Ebat won at 152, and Bears 215-pound freshman Tyler Cochran was second.

Westberg Invittational: Cheney brought home a third-place finish in the tournament at Ellensburg.

Ellensburg finished first with 218 points, Marysville-Pilchuck was second with 177.5. Cheney amassed 165.5 points, finishing ahead of Kentwood (162) and Ephrata (160.5).

The Blackhawks’ Blake Risk won the tournament at 125 pounds and was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament.

Cheney’s other top placers included Nolan Pegg (2nd at 189); Brenden Parker-Risk (3rd at 112), Tim Klippert (3rd at 119); Keith Parker (3rd at 145), Travis McKenzie (3rd at 215) and Justin Garland (3rd at 275).