East Valley rules regional tourney

Region IV 3A team champion East Valley and the other two Greater Spokane League schools moved the lion’s share of their regional entrants from Sunnyside to state.

A total of 18 out of the GSL’s 22 regional participants qualified Saturday for next weekend’s Mat Classic tournament in Tacoma.

EV’s Knights scored 180 points while advancing eight of their 11 regional wrestlers to state, four of them as regional champions.

Mt. Spokane had one champion and qualified six of seven to state.

North Central moved all four of its regional participants to state, including 135-pound champion Thomas Montague, who had entered the tournament as a No. 3 seed.

Montague defeated West Valley-Yakima’s Nick Gautreaux for the title 17-11. Last week, the NC senior was beating Gautreaux in the subregional semifinals when he was forced to injury forfeit after being penalized for a hold that resulted in Gautreaux’s inability to continue.

Mt. Spokane’s Noah Hatton was the 152-pound champion, winning 23-10 over NC’s Mike Pursel in a repeat of last week’s subregional final.

EV continued its formula for success in the Region IV event, which included wrestlers from Seattle’s Metro League.

The Knights had finalists at 130 and 145 and in four successive weights from 160 through 215, winning the latter three. As with the Hatton-Pursel match, each came against a subregional finals foe.

Clete Hanson reprised his injury default championship over Ben Robles of Southridge following two easy wins at 171.

Dan Michalski dominated 189 to repeat his win over Kennewick’s Ricky Carillo.

Jimmy Martin won two close matches at 215, including 5-2 for a repeat of his subregional win over Hanford’s Logan Roehm.

Caleb Alvarado started things at 145 with a repeat win over Southridge’s Tamrich Perez, 10-1.

Sophomores Jake Rodriguez (130) and Dakota Lawson (160) finished second again, losing to their same subregional opponents.

The Metro League won only nine of the 56 available state berths and had one finalist.

Region IV 2A: Deer Park had five finalists, including 145-pound champion Cody Miller, to win the regional title over Riverside.

The Stags scored 172.5 points to the Rams’ 150 in advancing nine wrestlers to Mat Classic.

The Great Northern League qualified 31 wrestlers out of 70 available state berths, and had four champions among 11 finalists in competition against the rugged CWAC league.

Miller won 7-4 in his weight class, with Levi Zadorozny (112), Sam Lane (130), Brandon Leliefeld (135) and Viktor Nesenchuck all finishing second for the Stags.

Riverside’s Ryan DesRoches pinned Clarkston’s Luke Draper at 160.

Cheney’s Mitch Eggett (171) and Clarkston’s Frank Willis (189), who beat Pullman’s Kyle Druffel, were the other champions.

D.J. Darnall (152) finished second for Clarkston’s Bantams.

Region III 1A: Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) placed all nine of its state qualifiers among the top three, including eight finalists, during its regional team victory.

Ryan Nordstadt and Jacob Lauderdale captured the 103 and 112 titles and the Eagles added championships at 152 by Wes McAdam and 189 by Reid Chivers. Lauderdale beat Newport’s Daniel Swain 6-4 for the title.

Lakeside scored 229.5 points to edge Omak (220.5) and Lake Roosevelt (184.5).

Omak also had four champions, including a 1-2 finish at 160 and advanced 10 wrestlers to state. Lake Roosevelt qualified eight, including 125-pound champ R.J. Sicking and 171 winner Logan Bowman.

Newport’s Brad Thew won at 285.

Northeast A League schools will have 25 state wrestlers out of 70 available berths.

Region II 1B/2B: Five area competitors captured individual championships and Reardan finished third among teams during the two-day tournament.

Reardan scored 157 points to finish behind Kittitas (184) and Oroville (169) in the team race. State placer Josh Eldred pinned his way to the 135 title and Derek Toney (285) pinned Davenport’s Tyler Dehn to lead the Indians’ nine-wrestler state contingent. Rory Beckstrom (215) was also a Reardan finalist.

Republic sophomore J.J. Gubler, third in state last year, and freshman teammate Ryn Rollins earned back-to-back titles. Rollins beat teammate Levi Larson 10-2 for the 112 championship, and Gubler followed with a technical fall championship at 119. The Tigers had five state qualifiers, including finalist Landis Mills.

Adam Thies, third in state last year for Liberty, captured the 145 title, pinning his way, including in the second-round of the championship over Wilbur-Creston/Keller state placer Ben Lembcke.

WCK had an all-school 125 final with sophomore Cody Stephens beating senior Deven Johnson 4-3.

The top four finishers qualified for Mat Classic.