Tonasket’s Lee Leavell gets Oroville’s Nick Perez into a headlock as he works to throw him down to the mat during Tonasket’s match in Oroville on Wednesday, Dec. 8. Leavell won this match-up 5-4. Photo by Terry Mills

EPHRATA – The Tonasket wrestling team finished second at the Ephrata Tournament last week days after defeating the Oroville team in a match.

On Wednesday, Dec. 8, the Tigers beat the Hornets 58-12 in Oroville.

“There were several very good matches that night,” Tiger Head Coach Dave Mitchell said. “Lee Leavell, 145 lbs., defeated Nick Perez 5-4; that was a really good match. Leavell scored the winning takedown to go ahead in the match with about 20 seconds left in the third round. We also had great matches from Enrique Ortega at 135, Peter Williams at 140, Austin Booker at 160 and Dustin Silverthorn at 171.”

Oroville’s weight classes 103 pounds to 130 pounds were forfeits to Tonasket before Ortega pinned Eddie Ocampo, Williams pinned Raul Rodriguez, Booker beat Taylor Maldonado 13-4, Silverthorn beat Duke Sykes 12-6 and Keegan McCormick and Josh Lofthus won by forfeit.

Hornet points came from Alex Alvarez, who defeated Derek Rimestad with Oroville’s only pin, and Ned Mathis, who won by forfeit.

On Saturday, Dec. 11, Tonasket finished second out of eight teams at the Ephrata Tournament, behind Grandview and ahead of Medical Lake, JV Allstars, Ephrata, Pullman, Moses Lake JVs and Eastmont JVs.

Taking first place for the Tigers were Jared Stedtfeld at 112 pounds, Tyler Laurie at 140 pounds, Leavell at 145 pounds, Silverthorn at 171 pounds and McCormick at 189 pounds. Taking second place were Collin Aitcheson at 125 pounds, Riley Buzzard at 140 pounds and Booker at 160 pounds. Placing fourth were Dalton Wahl at 135 pounds and Clayton Fry at 103 pounds.

“It was a great day of wrestling as several of our junior varsity got into the varsity tournament and wrestled well,” Mitchell said. “There was also a junior varsity mix and match where our other junior varsities got to wrestle junior varsities from many different schools.”

As of press time, the Tigers had not yet competed against Liberty Bell in a home match on Wednesday, Dec. 15. They will next compete at Couer d’Alene High School at the Tri-State Tournament on Saturday, Dec. 18.