2024-25 Winter Sports Preview: Cheney’s Trenton Moore wants to leave lasting legacy on growing program

Trenton Moore’s connection to the town of Cheney and the West Plains region goes back a lot longer than he’s been wrestling.

Moore was raised in Cheney and his grandfather is Mike Carr, who was a National Wrestling Hall of Fame coach at Medical Lake.

So there was never really a thought in Moore’s mind that he would finish his prep wrestling career anywhere but as a Blackhawk – and they’re as happy to have him as he is to be there.

“It’s really important to me to see this sport succeed here,” Moore said. “This has been my home since I was three years old. I wouldn’t have ever left this team and a lot of that is due to the coaches.

“They’re always striving to make me better, even outside of the wrestling room, and that makes me want to do my best for them no matter what.”

As Moore prepares to start his senior campaign, the Blackhawks get back not only one of their team leaders, but also one of the top 175-pounders in 3A.

Moore has taken fifth and sixth place at the past two Mat Classics respectively, and has also produced several other impressive results, including wins at last year’s Freeman Winter Classic and Ray Westberg Invitational in Ellensburg.

Longtime Cheney coach Brian Skaff, who is entering his 24th year on staff, credits the program’s culture as part of the reason athletes like Moore want to stay and do well at Cheney.

“We have a history here and that starts with our coaching staff,” Skaff said. “All of our assistants have been here 10 to 15 years and have come through this program and because of that we are now starting to build our numbers up to a point where we have 60 or so kids in the room now.”

Skaff believes Moore’s buy-in to the program has only helped it grow, and now he’s found himself in a leadership role both in how he acts, but also how he wrestles.

“He puts in the work every day and that stands out most,” Skaff said. “He was up around 170 as a freshman and that can be really tough to wrestle bigger as a younger kid and he struggled to find that success. But then his sophomore year he turned it on in the offseason and did the little things to get to where he is now.”

Moore said when he started wrestling it was more as a chance to do something different. But he agrees that the light bulb really clicked for him ahead of his sophomore year.

“I was just wrestling for fun at the start,” Moore said. “Then as I started to get better, I realized that it came through hard work, getting my workouts in. From then on, I’ve wanted more out of wrestling and set high goals for myself and have wrestled to win.”

Winning is something Moore did plenty of near the end of last season. After grinding through months of duels and tournaments, Moore peaked in the postseason, claiming titles in both the 3A district and regional tournaments.

He then went 4-2 at Mat Classic in the Tacoma Dome in February, with his two losses coming by a combined six points.

“I want to be a state champion,” Moore said of his aspirations this season. “I know I’m ranked high in my weight class, but rankings don’t matter. I know the two guys ahead of me, and I know I can beat them. I just have to push to be better than anyone else.”

In doing that, Moore will have the full support of a Blackhawks team that is looking to keep improving after last year’s 5-4 Greater Spokane League duel record, which included a victory over 4A Gonzaga Prep to end the regular season.

Skaff said that he would love to see Moore as far up the podium as possible come February’s Mat Classic. But regardless of his placing, Moore will leave as one of the greats in Cheney wrestling history.

“We’ve had lots of good kids come through this program, some that have had successful college careers even,” Skaff said. “And Trenton has been around a lot of those high-level kids and has seen what they did for their careers and how they led.

“Trenton is that next guy that will leave a legacy here. He’s seen how the kids before him got the best out of this team and he’s doing the same thing for the next group coming through.”