Wrestlers press ahead ready for the stretch

Raider Wrestling hosted the annual Powerhouse Tourney Dec. 30, then headed south to Warden Jan. 3 for the Jeremiah Schmunk Invitational.

At their Powerhouse Tournament, held in the old middle school in Grand Coulee, LR placed 10th out of 11 teams with 41.5 team points.

Oscar Pakootas took control of the 132-pound bracket early and came away with the gold medal. Pakootas pinned Phillips of Republic and Pruneda of Warden to set up a championship match with former teammate James Monaghan, now of Omak. In the championship match, Pakootas continued his dominance by beating Monaghan by technical fall, 19-4.

Octavio Alejandre also came away with a gold medal at 285. Alejandre was one of four 285s at the tourney. Alejandre pinned Cady of Rainier and Lowry of Omak. In the championship match, Pruneda of Warden could not outscore Alejandre, who claimed the gold 8-4.

Jacob Smith returned to Raider wrestling, taking a bronze at 120. Smith opened the Powerhouse with a loss to Gonzalez of Warden 2-1, then pinned Martinez of Warden. That set up a 3-4 match with Hildebrandt of Republic. Smith defeated Hildebrandt 10-2 to claim the bronze medal.

Reese Caddy took fifth at 132 at the Powerhouse. Caddy won his first match 2-0, over Hopper of Rainier then lost to Monaghan of Omak and Phillips of Republic by pins. Caddy defeated Rumbolz of Okanogan by default to claim fifth place.

In Warden Saturday, LR tied for eigth place with 54 points out of a 15-team field. Seven of those 15 teams are State B contenders along with strong 1A contenders.

Pakootas continued his strong senior season with another gold medal. After pinning Trevor Medlock of Columbia-Burbank in 59 seconds, Pakootas defeated by 4-2 Trevor Peterson of Tonasket, who had beat Pakootas in Tonasket Dec. 17. Coming in hot to the championship match, Pakootas knocked off Josiah Guerra of Warden 7-2 to take home his third straight gold medal.

Alejandre came in third at Warden in a tough 285 bracket.

"The 285s are the most competitive since we dropped down to the B ranks," Head Coach Steve Hood said. "There are three 285s who, on any given day, can win."

Smith placed fifth at 120 after defeating Duwayne Magruder of Kittitas 7-0. At 160, Michael Thomas continues to improve, which Coach Hood likes to see. Gabe Moses and Reese Caddy did not place at Warden.

This week the wrestlers have back-to-back matches. Tonight, starting at 5 p.m. the Raider Wrestlers will take part in the Wilbur mix and match. Tomorrow LR travels to Liberty Bell for a mixer with the Mt. Lions, Okanogan and another team yet to be known, starting at 6 p.m.

Powerhouse Tourney team scores

Omak 140.5 2) Okanogan 121.5 3) Republic 82 4) Oroville 75 5) Rainier 67

6) Warden 58 7) Noxon/Arlee 57 8) Wilbur-Creston-Keller 56 9) Brewster 52 10) LR 41.5 11) Almira/Coulee-Hartline 3

Jeremiah Schmunk Invitational team scores

Warden 206.5 2) Tonasket 131.5 3) Kittitas 126 4) Connell 115

5) Colfax/Garfield-Palouse 102 6) Liberty Bell 100 7) Okanogan 89 8) LR 54 8) Riverview 54

10) Pateros 40.5 11) Brewster 40 12) Wahluke 30 13) Columbia-Burbank 22 14) Mt. Baker 16