Three wrestlers move on to regional meet

Octavio Alejandre, Oscar Pakootas, and Jacob Smith all advanced from the sub-regional wrestling meet in Oroville to the regional competition after placing in the top four at Oroville last Saturday.

The regional meet will be held at Northwest Christian High School in North Spokane Saturday starting at 10 a.m. The meet this year is only a one-day event rather than two.

“We faced the toughest competition of the season at sub regionals,” commented Coach Steve Hood. “Now we are preparing to face even tougher competition Saturday at regionals because we are throwing in the District 7-9 best wrestlers into the mix.”

Octavio Alejandre, for the second straight year, is the sub-regional 285-pound champion. Alejandre pinned Jimmy Coleman of Tonasket to set up a finals match with Mikey Hernandez of White Swan. Tied at 0-0 after the first round, the two stayed close till the third round, when Alejandre put Hernandez on his back.

Alejandre, now the number-one seed from District 5-6 into regionals and will face Trevor Morris of Davenport in the first round. Morris took fourth at the District 7-9 Sub Regional.

Oscar Pakootas also advances after taking second place at 132 at Oroville. Pakootas started his day by defeating Tony Klepec of Okanogan, 7-6. Then in his semifinals match, Pakootas defeated Peter Manville of White Swan in two overtimes. Head Coach Steve Hood liked the resolve he saw in Pakootas to grit out the win.

After that long physical match, Pakootas was running out of gas, facing Trevor Peterson of Tonasket in the finals, when he lost 3-0.

On Saturday for the first round of regionals, Pakootas will face Travis Knuff of Colfax/Garfield-Palouse. Knuff placed third at District 7-9.

Jacob Smith, at 113, finished in third place to advance to regionals. Smith opened the tournament with a pin of Sean Park-Epley of Okanogan setting up a rematch with Adrian Tapia of Warden. Smith could not overcome Tapia who won 8-4.

Choosing to rebound rather than quit, Smith defeated his next opponent (Gerardo Rios-Lopez of Kittitas) 6-2 setting up a 3rd-4th match against Tim Freese of Tonasket. Smith came from behind to win the match by pin to claim third place.

He will face the number-two seed from District 7-9, Justin Volking of Kettle Falls, in his first match of the regional meet.

Gabe Moses went 2-2 at sub regionals in the 138 bracket. Moses pinned Ernesto Mendez of Warden in his first round match, then faced Raf Varelas of Brewster, losing 2-0. Varelas would go on to win the 138 bracket. Moses then rebounded with a pin of Lars Weigel of Okanogan. In his final match of the day Moses faced Zion Butler of Tonasket. Butler pinned Moses and went on to claim fourth place. Moses will return next season ready to claim a state berth.

Reese Caddy came through his first sub regional with a 1-2 record at 132. Caddy faced Finlay Holston of Liberty Bell, who defeated him 7-5, but then pinned Carlos Hernandez of White Swan. In Caddy’s next match, Tony Klepec of Okanogan pinned him.

Josh Jim at 145 was 0-2 at Oroville, losing to Kade Nierman of Kittitas and Kaleb Martin of Liberty Bell.

Regionals at Northwest Christian start at 10 a.m. and will run all day. The top five placers advance to the Mat Classic in the Tacoma Dome starting on Feb. 20.

Team Standings for District 5-6 Sub Regionals

(1) Warden 304 pts, (2) Tonasket 275.5 pts, (3) Liberty Bell 140 pts, (4) Okanogan 132 pts,

(5) Kittitas 130.5 pts, (6) Mabton 71 pts, (7) LR 69 pts, (8) White Swan 58 pts,

(9) Pateros 57 pts, (10) Brewster 49 pts, (11) Oroville 35 pts, (12) Riverside Christian 3 pts.