Five Raiders heading to state wrestling

Raider wrestling travelled to Kittitas on Valentine’s Day and came home Saturday Night with two Eastern Washington B Regional champions and five moving on to the 26th annual Mat Classic at the Tacoma Dome this weekend.

“We had another good tournament,” Head Coach Steve Hood commented on the regional tourney.

Lake Roosevelt finished sixth overall in team standings with 105 points, only seven points out of third place.

James Monaghan won second place in the 120-pound category. His opponent in the championship match, Trent Skelton, had placed second as a freshman and was state champ last year. LR coaches Hood and Largent said Skelton has lots of skills and “is not a slouch.” Monaghan looks to improve on his state performance from last year and place.

Zack Erickson took on Skelton right from the get go, bur Skelton took Erickson by surprise and won. Largent said Erickson’s second match, against Houlihan of Reardan, was his best match of the season. Erickson did not qualify for state and will look forward to next year and another chance.

Coltin Williams bounced back from an earlier loss to get into the 3rd-4th match against his first opponent, Anderson of Reardan. Anderson got his revenge by defeating Williams. Williams took fourth at 126 and moves on to state for the first time since 2012.

Oscar Pakootas lost his second match to Kaleb Hafner, who Coach Hood said “would manage to use his strength to stop from laying flat on his back.” Pakootas rebounded and went on to take third at 132. Pakootas took third at 120 at last year’s Mat Classic and would like to do better this year.

Kodie Horn dominated the 145 bracket, pinning all comers in the first round to become the Eastern Washington B Regional champ.

Octavio Alejandre at 285 was just as dominant, pinning all his opponents in the first round to also take home a regional championship.

“Both were ready to wrestle, and it showed” Hood said.

The number one wrestlers from the Western Washington regional managed the same feat as Horn and Alejandre, which sets up a great showdown in the Tacoma Dome this weekend.

Teddy Sharr and Jesse Louie both wrestled hard but ran out of moves. Neither advanced to the Mat Classic. For Sharr this was a successful senior season, finishing with a regional tournament experience. Louie could return next season and would have the experience to help him over the hump to state.

Tomorrow the Raiders will be leaving for the Tacoma Dome for the 26th Mat Classic, the largest high school wrestling state tournament in the nation. The tournament starts on Friday at 10 a.m. with the first rounds. Action continues on Saturday starting again at 10 a.m.

120-Zack Erickson lost to Trent Skelton of Liberty Bell by pin 15 seconds; lost to Conner Houlihan of Reardan by pin, 4:15.

120-James Monaghan def. Duwayne MaGruder of Kittitas 8-3; pinned Jordan Smith of Oroville in 5:01; lost to Trent Skelton of Liberty Bell by tech fall 17-2.

126-Coltin Williams def. Justis Anderson of Reardan 8-6; pinned by Kain Feltwell of Liberty-Spangle in 3:03; def. Danny Humiston of Liberty Bell 15-1; lost to Justis Anderson of Reardan 16-9.

132-Oscar Pakootas pinned Colton Kuykendall of Reardan in 2:57; lost to Kaleb Hafner of Liberty-Spangle 2-1; pinned Kaleb Marten of Liberty Bell in 2:08; def. Mitch Barney of Colfax 4-2.

145-Kodie Horn pinned Johan Hernandez of Pateros in 1:29; pinned Jacob McMillan of Liberty Bell in 1:26; pinned Reggie Jones of Colfax in 1:23.

145-Jesse Louie lost to Tyler Weimerskirch of ACH 7-6; lost to Johan Hernandez of Pateros 11-3.

182-Teddy Sharr lost to Jake Harrington of Liberty-Spangle 11-5; lost to Tristan Barnett of Tri Cities Prep 6-3.

285-Octavio Alejandre pinned Salvadore Esquivel of White Swan in 1:12; pinned Layne Hawks of Lind-Ritzville/Sprague in 25 seconds; pinned Mark Dituri of Mary Walker-Springdale in 1:26.