Wrestlers make good showing at Kittitas

The Raiders came up against many schools that will have state competitors Saturday in Kittitas and competed in challenging matches and took home three medals from the Coyote Classic.

“We got a chance to see teams like Ilwaco and Napavine, who will be at state and we haven’t yet seen this season,” Head Coach Steve Hood said.

Gabe Moses, at 138 pounds, took home his first gold medal. Moses pinned all his opponents on the way to the gold. His opponents were Sam Smith of Napavine, Chance Robinson of Pomeroy, and Wegner of Liberty Bell.

Oscar Pakootas took home a silver medal from Kittitas at 132. Pakootas started the day in dominant fashion, beating T.J. Schneider of Ellensburg by technical fall and Travis Knauff of Colfax/Garfield-Palouse 8-5. In the finals match, Pakootas faced Kain Feltwell of Liberty-Spangle, the 2014 2B 126-pound state champ.

Coaches Hood and Lee Largent agreed that Pakootas wrestled a great match, but Feltwell came away the victor. Pakootas is hungry to win the Eastern Washington North League at 132 this Saturday.

Jacob Smith, at 113, came home with a third place. Smith pinned Casey Oxford of Napavine to open the day. Then he lost to Charlie Hoffine of Cle Elum-Roslyn, who went on to win the 113 bracket at Kittitas. Smith bounced back by pinning Liam Boyd and Joe Thompson, both of Wilbur-Creston-Keller. That set up a placing match with Nate Say of Cle Elum-Roslyn. Smith defeated Say by technical fall to claim third place.

Reese Caddy was in a round robin bracket at Kittitas. Caddy lost his first match to Dustin Fitzpatrick of Cashmere by pin. Caddy came back to defeat his second opponent, Shane Wachter, of Almira/Coulee-Hartline 17-10. In his final match against Connor Beattie of Davenport, Caddy lost by pin.

Josh Jim rejoined the Raiders at 145 in Kittitas, also in a round robin bracket. Jim won two matches against Justin Regan of Davenport by pin. Against Kade Nierman of Kittitas, Jim lost by pin.

Raider Wrestling is preparing now for the Eastern Washington North Wrestling League tournament on Saturday at Kittitas. Wrestling starts at 10 a.m. The wrestlers can wrestle anywhere between zero and five matches, depending on the numbers in the brackets and if there needs to be a tiebreaker match to settle seeding conflict for the Sub-Regional.

When the matches are over, the coaches will go into the seeding meeting to set everything in stone for the Sub-Regional at Oroville Feb. 6-7.