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Ephrata 2nd, Royal 3rd, Quincy 4th in Region 4 girls wrestling

cheryl schweizer, columbia basin herald, moses lake, wash.
·4 min read

Feb. 13—QUINCY — The Ephrata, Royal and Quincy girls wrestling teams finished second, third and fourth in the Region 4 2A/1A/2B/1B tournament Saturday at Quincy High School. The Wahluke girls took home a 12th-place finish.

Ephrata finished with 118 points, behind regional champion Omak with 127 points. Royal scored 115 points; Quincy finished with 109.5 points. Wahluke scored 39 points.

Ephrata Coach Raul Tejeda said four Tigers won regional championships. Leslie Sanchez Guzman took first in the 140-pound class; Kadie McMullen was the regional champion at 145 pounds. Adylene Sanchez won the 155-pound class, and Molly McMullen took the championship at 190 pounds.

"I think everybody went in with confidence. We kind of had a pep talk the day before. 'You've got to give yourself a chance, see yourself up there on the podium.' It feels like that gave them a boost because they went out there and wrestled hard," Tejada said.

The Royal Knights had two regional champions, said Coach Jesus Carlos Villa. Sharon Arroyo won the regional championship in the 100-pound class; Emma Villa was the regional champion at 175 pounds.

"(The program) has come a long way in such a short amount of time," Villa said.

Quincy Coach Mark Kondo said two Quincy wrestlers finished with regional championships.

"In this area, (wrestling) has really grown, and that's helped get girls out that are good athletes," Kondo said.

For Quincy, Alondra Cordova was the regional champion at 115 pounds, and Hayden Morris took the regional title at 120 pounds.

The top three placers advance to the state tournament, with fourth place qualifying as an alternate, in case any of the first three placers can't compete.

Wahluke senior Mariangela Gonzalez qualified for Mat Classic XXXV by taking third place at 145 pounds. The Warriors also will be sending an alternate; Angela Santiago finished fourth in the 140-pound class.

The Jacks will be sending two additional wrestlers to the state meet, with one additional wrestler qualifying as an alternate. Allison Guerrero finished second at 100 pounds and Michelle Acevedo was second in the 130-pound class. Crystal Perez qualified as an alternate at 110 pounds.

Royal's Lauren Jenks and Analy Castillo qualified for state with third-place finishes, Jenks at 135 pounds and Castillo at 235 pounds.

Ephrata's Teegan Morgan made the podium with a fifth-place finish at 170 pounds, and her teammate Alexandra Estrada Rangel was fifth at 135 pounds. Jade Flores of Royal finished fifth at 125 pounds. Wahluke's Dyani Hernandez was fifth in the 190-pound class. Quincy's Emiko Kondo was sixth in the 100-pound weight class, and Maritza Gil of Quincy was sixth at 105 pounds.

Regionals could be a tough tournament for the girls who got close but didn't quite make it, Villa said.

"It can be a heartbreaker for some of those girls that are kind of on the bubble," he said. "We knew there were going to be some tough matches to make it through to state, and some of those girls won some of those matches, and unfortunately some of those girls that we had on the bubble lost those matches and didn't quite get to qualify."

Villa said he's optimistic about his team's chances, with returning state veterans providing team leadership.

"I truly believe that with the four state qualifiers that we have, we can go four-for-four and bring four medals home," he said. "We're hoping for a top-10 finish."

Quincy doubled the number of qualifiers from last year, and Kondo said he thinks his wrestlers have a good chance of advancing.

"Last year we had two and three alternates, and this year we have four and one alternate. So we'll see what they can do," Kondo said. "I think they'll have a chance to get a medal at state, and hopefully we can sneak somebody into the finals."

Mat Classic is a big test, Tejada said, but he's optimistic that the Tigers can handle it.

"It'll be tough, for sure. But they have a chance to place, I'm kind of hoping to place all four," he said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.