Five Raiders move on to state meet

Five Lake Roosevelt wrestlers will compete at the state tournament this weekend in Tacoma, following their performances at the regional tournament Saturday.

At Regionals at Kittitas on Saturday, LR finished sixth out of 26 teams, with wrestlers Coltin Williams, Kodie Horn, Orrin Gross, Sean Waters, and Levi Seylor all punching their respective tickets to Tacoma for WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington/Les Schwab 1B/2B Wrestling Mat Classic XXIV.

The top five advanced from each weight bracket to the Eastern Washington B Regional.

Freshman Colton Williams, in his second season wrestling, on Saturday overcame a loss to Rodelo of Warden to win by injury default over Ripley of Oroville and win by major decision over Chicklinsky of Wilbur-Creston 13-1. He took fifth and the final berth to state at 120 pounds.

Kodie Horn had to overcome an early loss to last year’s third-place finisher Cody Erickson of Liberty (Spangle) to beat Alvarrado of White Swan, Baumbach of Republic, last year’s fourth-place finisher Espinoza of Kittitas. Finally, he beat MacMillian of Liberty Bell, who the week before had defeated Horn at the sub-regional event in Coulee Dam.

Horn came away with a third-place finish at 126.

Orrin Gross breezed through his competition and took home the championship at 138. Gross pinned Pruneda of Warden and Niezwaag of Ritzville in the first round before defeating two-time state placer Stauffer of Davenport 8-3 in the championship match.

Sean Waters finished third at 170 after twice defeating Camacho of Warden (second at state last year), and Justin King of Colfax, another state participant.

Levi Seylor moved on to state after finishing third at 182. Seylor started by beating Nicholas Nanez of White Swan 7-2 before dropping a tough one to Jerry Reyes of Warden 7-3. Seylor bounced back, quickly defeating Buck Prib of Liberty Bell 3-2. In the placing matches Seylor faced Ike Martinez of Reardan for third and fourth. Seylor came away the victor by injury default.

Other Raiders finished their season on Saturday at Kittitas, some placing and scoring points for the team. Oscar Pakootas finished eighth at 106 to end a successful season. Tim Loch finished seventh at 132 after defeating Saul Hinojosa of Warden 8-4.

Alexa Hanway went down to Wahluke for the Girls’ Regionals and faced extremely hard competition. Hanway did not place but has had a very good season and will be looking to make state next year, Head Coach Steve Hood said.

“We got to where we are at through hard work and good wrestling,” Hood commented.

The Raiders will be heading to Tacoma Thursday, where matches start at 10 a.m. on Friday and will continue through to Saturday night.