Wrestling preview: Team capsules for Greater Spokane League, Eastern Washington and North Idaho

In alphabetical order by league. Records for Washington are from spring 2021 season.

Greater Spokane League 4A

Gonzaga Prep (4-5): Two district champs return for coach Danny Pearson, entering his 16th season with the Bullpups. Sophomore Josh Neiwert (138 pounds) and junior Isaac Muniz (126) will be counted on as leaders right away. “We’re a young team with several wrestlers looking to compete for state medals,” Pearson said. “A solid but inexperienced freshman class is a building block for success over the next couple years.”

Lewis and Clark: Coach Aaron Petak enters his third season with the Tigers with “the biggest wrestling team we have had in the last four years.” There are 10 letter winners back, including senior Luke McConnell (138), juniors Bennett Hendrickson (132) and Peya Cylmana (113) and sophomore Bridger Cloninger (170).

Greater Spokane League 3A

Cheney: Graduation thinned the Blackhawks’ roster, with 10 starters moving on. Four return, led by junior Joe Showalter (132), who earned second-team all-league honors in the spring. “The team is very young,” fourth-year coach Jason Connor said. “We have several athletes either returning to the sport from a COVID break or trying it out for the first time.”

Ferris (1-8): It was a rough spring season for the Saxons and third-year coach Chuck Vaughn, but 14 letter winners and 11 starters are back with another year under their belts. Key returners include Fabian Torres, Jeison Ingram and Tristan Sims.

Mead (9-1): The Panthers lost just one starter to graduation and return plenty of athletes with state experience, according to coach Phil McLean, who enters his 21st season at the helm with “a lot” of wrestlers out for the team this season. “I am hoping our heavy senior class will rise to the top and be great leaders for our new youth,” he said. State qualifiers include Jake Mark (145/152), Garrett Casey (145), Johnny Mason (152/160), and JT Connors (220).

Mt. Spokane (7-1): It’s a passing of the torch, as longtime Wildcats coach Travis Hughes steps down after a 20-year career – and three consecutive State 3A titles – to spend more time with family. Jacob Fry takes over with eight starters and 15 letter winners in the program, including state qualifiers Hudson Buth (fourth) and Luke Zwiesler. “After graduating the core group of athletes that won three consecutive state tournaments, we look to rely on some of our younger guys to continue the tradition of hard-work and resilience,” Fry said.

North Central: First-year coach Steven Taylor has seven starters back for the Wolfpack, including two-time state champion senior Kenndyl Mobley (126). Key returners also include senior David Johnson and junior Caleb Labrucherie.

Ridgeline: The Falcons only had three athletes with high school wrestling experience prior to the school year. “The story of this season is to get as many wrestlers out, and keep them out, without losing the intensity of a combat sport,” coach Brice Gretch said. “We will need to make connections in the local middle schools to encourage high school wrestling participation.”

University (11-1): Ryan Montag is back for his third season with the Titans with an ace up his sleeve – 2020 state champ (126) Q’Veli Quintanilla transfers in from Gonzaga Prep for his junior season. Quintanilla earned a national title over the summer at the Fargo Junior National Championships at 138. Montag has eight other starters back from spring, including Joey Williamson (120), Tyler Walker (126), Max Dillon (132) and Elijah Reems (285).

Greater Spokane League 2A

East Valley: Coach Craig Hanson is back for his 27th season with the Knights and 37th overall – and his final season, as he’s announced he will be retiring after the school year. The Washington Wrestling Hall of Famer has four letter winners back, including junior heavyweight Alonzo Vargas and seniors Anthony Martin (138) and Gauge Bedow (170). “We fill all weight classes but have a lot of inexperience in the lineup,” Hanson said. “The challenge will be to develop the talent over the year and ready ourselves for the postseason.”

Pullman (3-7): The Greyhounds return eight starters and 11 letter winners for second-year coach Marcus Crossler. Pullman will be led by senior Gabriel Smith, who placed second at state in 2020 and has three top-eight places at Tri-State. Crossler expects to fill out all weight classes this season. “Our middle weights are strong this season,” he said. “We only graduated one senior last season, so we’re looking to bring back some more experienced kids.”

Rogers (5-2): The Pirates placed third in league in the spring and have seven letter winners back for ninth-year coach Rod Tamura. Leading the way are senior Caber Taylor (170) and junior Blaise Cross, who both earned all-league honors in the spring.

Rogers girls: The Pirates are the only school in the league to field a full girls team. “It is a very exciting outlook as we are growing our girls wrestling program to 12 athletes,” third-year coach Whitney Bowerman said. “We have a group of veteran returners that I am excited to see what they can do this season.” Junior Ellabelle Taylor (110) took third in the unofficial state tourney in the spring.

Shadle Park: Seven starters are back for coach Shawn Howard, entering his 15th season with the Highlanders. Leading the way is senior Zach Lopez (132/138), the 2020 state champion at 120, and Ashton Dunn, who placed fourth at 106. Ninth-grader Tyrese Guzman (126) has already earned a second-place finish at the Deer Park invite last week.

West Valley: Coach Geoff Hensley, entering his 11th season, noted the Eagles had “our largest turnout in years with 40 kids.” There are just three seniors, but Hensley likes the depth. “We feel like we should be able to fill every weight class and be a competitive team,” he said. Logan Utecht is a district champ, while Kyler Warren and Ethan Carrell are district finalists.

Northeast A

Colville (5-1): The Crimson Hawks were District 7 1A champs in the spring and return seven starters for 13th-year coach Randy Cloke, including four with state experience: Aiden Medrano (132/138) took third in 2020, Logan Hydorn (145) placed second and Tanner Goff (195) was eighth. Cloke is missing the first two weights, which may factor into Colville’s dual record. “The team is young and needs experience,” Cloke said. “Last year hurt the freshmen – many only got a handful of matches.”

Freeman: Coach Matt Smith brings a ton of experience with him in his first season as head coach with the Scotties – including seven years at the school and 14 years with the U-Hi program. Freeman returns six from the district second-place team from the spring, including Owen Orndorff (220/285), who placed seventh at state in 2019. “Most of our kids have wrestled a long time,” Smith said. “We have a pretty high wrestling IQ with a bunch of hard workers who never complain.”

Riverside: There are plenty of returning wrestlers for the Rams and third-year coach Jake DesRoches – a whopping 13 letter winners in total, including senior Hunter DePriest (195), juniors Cameron Burnham (220), Brock Martin (195) and Aaron DesRoches (170), and sophomore Brooks Proctor (132).

Northeast 2B

Chewelah: New coach Austin Burgess has eight letter winners and six starters back this season. He knows he’s fortunate. “A short season last year and no state tournament hurt the motivation to keep moving forward with a lot of athletes. That took away interest in our sport.” Senior Zeke Crockett placed third at state as a sophomore and junior Clay Jeanneret took fourth as a freshman. Kristin Erickson is a three-time girls state participant.

Liberty: Third-year coach Braden Davis only has one senior on the team. “We will look to continue to build,” he said. “Though we are young we have a ton of wrestling experience and will hope to compete at all league matches as well as team tournaments.” Juniors Ashton Strobel (152), Jeshua Cwik (170) and Owen Prince (132) are all state participants, with Strobel and Prince earning fourth-place medals.

Northwest Christian: Third-year coach Abraham Rocha has three letter winners back this season, including senior Trevor Waterbly (160) and junior Mike Bauman (152), both state participants. After several years of a smaller team, NWC will have enough to compete as a team. “If we can get the younger guys to develop quickly,” Rocha said, “we can realistically qualify six kids to state this season.”

Inland Empire 5A

Coeur d’Alene (15-5): The Vikings placed fourth at state last season and have 10 starters back for coach Jeff Moffat, entering his 21st season at CdA. Three-time state champ Gunner Giulio (170) will start slowly due to a football injury, but there are plenty of experienced wrestlers in the bunch, including state champ Rylan Rogers (195) and Christian Kelly (98), who has earned a second- and third-place medal. “We should be solid in all 15 weights,” Moffat said. “We will need to keep everyone healthy to be competitive as we lack depth at some spots.”