On to State

Last Saturday's Regional tourney proved successful for the 10 Goat grapplers who took to the road for the chance at State competition.
Nine of the 10 wrestlers will be going to the State tourney in Tacoma this weekend, Feb. 21-22, with seven competitors and two alternates. Wrestlers earning fourth-place or higher at last week's Regional tourney were given a ticket to the State tourney.
Chelan's Kevin Monje will make an appearance at the State tourney as an alternate. Monje earned fifth-place honors in the 106 lb. division at the Regional tourney. Monje was pinned in 5:54 by Lakeside's Joe Adams. That took Monje to the consolation bracket, facing Joey Roach of Riverside. Monje took that match by pin in 4:42 and went on to face Vance Frazier of Tonasket by a 9-6 decision. It was down to the fifth and sixth place finish for Monje, as he took on Justin Volking of Kettle Falls, losing by fall in 5:33.
Chelan's Angel Hernandez earned a State berth by taking fourth-place honors in the 113 lb. division. Hernandez started out strong, nabbing a 13-0 decision against Freeman's JJ Iltz. The next match was against Lakeside's Dalton Young. Hernandez lost the match 8-0 and headed to the consolation bracket where he faced Elvis Montiel of Brewster. The Chelan grappler pinned the Bear wrestler in 5:46. Hernandez went on to compete for third and fourth place honors against Medical Lake's Nick Reed. Reed took the match by a 9-8 decision, forcing Hernandez to settle for fourth-place in the tourney.
Also earning a ticket to the State tourney for Chelan was Ivan Reyes (120 lbs.) Reyes dominated his first match against Garrett Anderson of Kettle Falls by a 7-0 decision. In the next match, Reyes was pinned by Chewelah wrestler Matthew Crise. Reyes went on to face Cashmere's Nathan Thompson, winning by an 8-5 decision. The third-fourth place match was Lakeside's Cole Ahrendt and Chelan's Reyes. Ahrendt finally defeated the Chelan wrestler by an 11-7 decision in overtime, giving Reyes fourth-place honors in the Regional tourney, and State berth bragging rights.
Chelan's Julio Vera, earning second-place honors in the Regional tourney, first faced Medical Lake's Seth Rojas. Vera pinned his opponent in 5:59 and went on to defeat Riverside's Tyler Jack by an 11-9 decision. Vera lost the championship match to Lakeside's Hootie Judd by a 6-2 decision, giving him second-place in the 126 lb. division overall.
Of eight competitors in the 132 lb. division, Chelan's Juan DeLaCruz earned sixth-place honors. DeLaCruz fell to Lakeside's Klint Brown in 3:40. He came back, defeating Freeman's Isaiah Crane by a 10-4 decision. It was Chelan vs. Chelan when Justin Buyas and DeLaCruz met at the mat. Buyas took the match by a 15-9 decision leaving DeLaCruz to compete for fifth and sixth place against Jalen Moses of Okanogan. Moses pinned the Chelan wrestler in 20 seconds, giving DeLa Cruz sixth-place in the tourney. Buyas went on to face Chewelah's Kyle Connall, losing that match by in pin in 1:03. Buyas, taking fourth place honors in the tourney overall, will move on to the State tourney this weekend.
It was another home-team match-up with Jairo DeLaCruz and Julian Buyas both competing in the 145 lb. division.
DeLaCruz earned a 6-0 win in the first match against Freeman's Bram Schweiger. He then fell to Medical Lake's Ricky Petersen by a 9-4 decision, taking him to the consolation bracket against fellow Goat wrestler, Buyas. DeLaCruz earned the victory by fall in 4:43 earning himself a ticket to the third-fourth place match. DeLaCruz earned the win over Freeman's Schmidlkofer by a 9-2 decision. Buyas was forced to the fifth-sixth place match against Schweiger. Buyas topped the Freeman wrestler by a 16-2 win.
Chelan's Juan Garcia (153 lbs.) will also be making a State appearance with his second-place win in the Regional tourney. The Chelan grappler picked off his first opponent, Newport's Nolan Finley, by pin in 0:47. Garcia continued his winning streak by defeating Freeman's Billy Sims in a 2-1 decision. It was down to the championship match, where Garcia fell by a 4-2 decision to Omak's Alex Aguilar, earning him second-place honors on the day.
Chelan's Matt Barnes (160 lbs.) took sixth-place honors in his division. Barnes lost his first match against Chewelah's Connor Fulbright by a 6-0 decision. Barnes bounced back, defeating Kettle Falls wrestler Wyatt Moss by pin in 2:55. Barnes was forced into the fifth-sixth place match by a fall in 5:56 to Freeman's Preston Hoppman. It was a battle for an alternate spot to State against Freeman's Derek Trumble and Barnes. Trumble prevailed by a 6-4 decision, handing Barnes the sixth-place trophy on the day.
It was down to the final matches for Chelan, with 220 lb. monster Asa Schwartz. Schwartz cruised through all his matches, pinning Chewelah's Austin Piepgras in 1:17, and Lakeside's Tim Jarrard in 0:57. In the championship round, Schwartz prevailed by a 9-0 decision against Freeman's Teigan Glidewell, earning him first-place bragging rights in the Regional tourney and a shot at the State contest.