Panthers wear district crown

The final team scores at the District 8 4A wrestling tournament Saturday didn’t lie.

Just 26 points separated the top three teams – and eight the top two.

Host Mead defended its title, piling up 336 points followed by Central Valley. University was third with 310.

The top three in each weight advance to regionals when the Greater Spokane League goes against the Mid-Columbia and Big Nine which should be a blood bath for four berths to state.

Mead advanced the most to Wenatchee with four champs out of eight finalists and 11 overall. CV had the most champs with five and moved nine on while U-Hi had four champs and eight advancers.

Zach Bade led the Panthers in the match that may have decided the district title at 113 pounds. Bade prevailed 5-4 over CV freshman Bradley Wiggs.

Joining Bade in the championship circle for Mead were Daeri Alderman, Trevor Senn and Kevin McLean.

At 195, McLean used four takedowns for a 10-5 decision over Donavin McElliott of Ferris.

“We had a little lull the last few weeks,” Mead coach Phil McLean said. “We had a few injuries. They really responded this weekend and went back to competing pretty hard. We still have plenty of things to fix up. When you compete hard good things happen.”

CV’s champs were the Beard brothers – Bryson, Bridges and two-time state champ Blake – Braedon Orrino and Chauncye Garigan.

Taking titles for U-Hi were Tate Orndorff, Levei Meinzinger, Cam Sorensen and Terrill Sanders.

The other district champ was Sampson Rich of Lewis and Clark.

3A: Defending state champ North Central had nine finalists and teammates facing each other in two weights as the Indians captured the district title with 265 points at Mead.

Mt. Spokane and Shadle Park tied for second with 233.

The top four in each weight advance to regionals when the GSL, MCC, Greater St. Helens League and KingCo converge in Kelso for regionals next Saturday. The top four go on to Tacoma.

NC moved 16 to regionals – a bigger number than even coach Luke Leifer expected.

Leading the way for NC were the Quintanilla brothers, Clai and Izaec, along with Bryson Pierce and Ryan Johnson.

Mt. Spokane had five champs and got 13 to regionals. The Wildcats’ champs were Jacob Howerton, the Hoover twins, Alec and Andrew, Rich Bondurant and Morgan Ruegsegger.

Shadle Park matched NC’s 16 with three champs. They were Bryden Uyehara, Kyle Vinson and Ryan Burnett.

Rogers had two champs in Edward Smith and Markus Robinson.

The Quintanillas beat teammates in their finals, both winning via first-period pins.

Leifer said the challenge to repeat as state champ comes at regionals. His magic number for state qualifiers is 10.

“The state tournament doesn’t mean anything if we don’t perform next week,” Leifer said. “We need to have a good team showing or we won’t have a chance the following week.”

2A: East Valley roughed up its Great Northern League foes, finishing with 325 points. Clarkston finished a distant second (196).

The Knights had five champs. The top three in each weight advance to regionals next Saturday at Ellensburg where the GNL goes against the Central Washington Athletic Conference for four state berths per weight.

EV’s champs were Randy Mcdonald, Logan Sundheim, Trey Meyer, Hayden Stevens and Damon King.

1A: Freeman captured a third straight district title, finishing with 372 points. Colville took second with 281. The Scotties had three champs and seven other finalists.

The top six in each weight advance to regionals next Saturday at Cascade to tangle with Caribou Trail League teams with four state berths at each weight available.

Freeman’s champs were Jesse Schmidlkofer, Markus Goldbach and Teigan Glidewell.