LR wrestlers are Dream Duals class B champs

Raider wrestlers claimed the B championship at the Washington Dream Duals held in Spokane Valley Saturday.

The tourney at East Valley High School featured nine mats in two gyms and a cafeteria, with 30 teams from all classifications taking part.

LR was one of four B schools in the Dream Duals; the others being Mary Walker (Springdale), Northwest Christian, and Selkirk.

Because of two wrestlers being unable to attend the competition, four Raiders competed at a higher weight class to help the team compete to win the tourney.

“Our attitude going in was we had to wrestle tough to win,” Head Coach Steve Hood on the team’s mentality going into the Dream Duals. “The other B schools seemed to have the attitude going into our matches that we (LR) were going to beat them; it was very odd.”

All of the B squads had weight classes they have not been able to fill, so members from the bigger schools were loaned to the B schools for the tournament. LR, for instance, was loaned a 113-pounder from Port Angeles and a 160 from Othello. These loaned wrestlers are represented in the results below as “Unattached (Forfeit)” as the match did not count toward the points scored for the dual.

In the match against Mary Walker, Raider Octavio Alejandre wrestled Mark Dituri in a rematch of last years 3rd/4th match in the state tournament. Alejandre won in a tight match that drew in all spectators.

Teddy Sharr won his match against the Springdale 195 pounder, a boost for Sharr.

In the Northwest Christian match, Jesse Louie came from behind to defeat Tim Koppin by pin. Louie won all three of his matches by pin at the Dream Duals.

Oscar Pakootas wrestled a close first round against Clark Rabe of NWC, then took control in the next two rounds and came away with a 9-5 win.

At 132, up from 126, Coltin Williams won his two team-point matches, and lost one exhibition match.

“Coltin had a good day,” Hood said. “He worked in new moves from last week’s practices and used them to have an all-around good day.”

This tournament presented a different challenge for the LR coaches. Since LR dropped from the Caribou Trail League to the 2B ranks, the wrestling team has not competed in a proper dual in the past few seasons. Last week in practice, coaches Hood and Largent had to instruct the wrestlers on how to approach dual matches, which requires a “whole different strategy to wrestle, compared with a normal tournament setup,” Hood said.

Depending on the league alignment for next season, the Raiders may wrestle duals again in the regular season for a league championship.

Now the wrestlers are preparing for the last regular season match this Saturday at Oroville High School starting at 11 a.m. It is the Eastern Washington North B Wrestling League mixer with all schools in the league taking part.

Northwest Christian, Selkirk, Mary Walker, Republic, Oroville, Liberty Bell, Pateros, and Kittitas will attend. The matches will feature wrestlers who did not wrestle before and to solve any seeding issues. At the end of competition there will be a seeding meeting for the sub-regional tournament at Northwest Christian Feb. 8.

LR 51, Mary Walker 6

106-Alexia Hanway won by (Unattached) Forfeit. 120- Zach Erickson won by (Unattached)Forfeit. 126- James Monaghan won by (Unattached)Forfeit. 132- Coltin Williams won by (Unattached)Forfeit. 138- Oscar Pakootas won by (Unattached) Forfeit. 145- Jesse Louie pinned Javier Ochoa, 1:37. 152- Kodie Horn won by (Unattached) Forfeit. 182- Teddy Sharr won by (Unattached) Forfeit. 285- Octavio Alejandre defeated Mark Dituri 2-1.

LR 43, Northwest Christian 18

106- Alexia Hanway won by (Unattached) Forfeit. 120- Zack Erickson won by (Unattached) Forfeit. 126- James Monaghan won by (Unattached) Forfeit. 132- Coltin Williams defeated Ethan Kopplin 8-0. 138- Oscar Pakootas defeated Clark Rabe 9-5. 145- Jesse Louie defeated Tim Kopplin by pin 2:49. 182- Teddy Sharr won by (Unattached) Forfeit. 285- Octavio Alejandre won by (Unattached) Forfeit.

LR 47, Selkirk 24

106- Alexia Hanway lost to Ryan Issakides by pin 5:24. 120- Zach Erickson won by (Unattached) Forfeit. 126- James Monaghan defeated Hunter Carman 20-4. 132- Coltin Williams defeated Chance Chantry by pin 2:42. 138- Oscar Pakootas won by (Unattached) Forfeit. 145- Jesse Louie defeated Jared Taft by pin 3:03. 152- Kodie Horn won by (Unattached) Forfeit. 182- Teddy Sharr won by (Unattached) Forfeit. 285- Octavio Alejandre won by (Unattached) Forfeit.