CHELAN – The Tonasket wrestling team finished in third place at the District Tournament in Chelan, held on Friday, Feb. 5 and Saturday, Feb. 6.
“What a great District Tournament for Tonasket last weekend,” Dave Mitchell, head coach, said. “We had six in the finals and had three District champions. Tonasket finished third in the tournament. There were up to 16 guys in each weight class.”
Tonasket’s Champions were Tyler Laurie at 130 pounds, Andrew Grillo at 160 pounds and Keegan McCormick and 171 pounds. In second place were Jared Stedtfeld at 103 pounds, Dustin Silverthorn at 152 pounds and Brand Hudson at 215 pounds. In third place were Peter Williams at 140 pounds and Lee Leavell at 145 pounds. Finishing in fourth place were Riley Buzzard at 135 pounds and Corey McCrarey at 189 pounds. In fifth place were Dalton Wahl at 119 pounds, Enrique Ortega at 130 pounds and Derek Rimestad at 145 pounds. Ryker Marchand at 112 pounds and Austin Booker at 135 pounds both finished in sixth place and Josh Lofthus finished in eighth place at 215 pounds. Also wrestling but not placing in the top eight were Brendon Brereton and Collier Brereton both at 125 pounds.
“The top four in each weight class automatically qualify for Regionals that will be held for the first time ever at Tonasket High School this coming Saturday,” Mitchell said. “The top four from each weight class at Regionals qualify for the State meet the next weekend at the Tacoma Dome. Friday night for Regionals there will be ‘pig-tail’ matches to qualify for the Regional Tournament the next day. The way it works is: the number five from our district will wrestle the number four from the other district and our number six will wrestle the other district’s number three. The winners of those ‘pig-tail’ matches will be in the Regional Tournament on Saturday. So, our guys who placed in the top four at Districts will not wrestle until Saturday, while our guys who placed fifth and sixth at Districts will wrestle Friday night.”
Wrestling begins on Friday night at 6 p.m. and then at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.
“I’m very proud of how all of our guys wrestled,” Mitchell said. “We came out and wrestled smart and tough. I’m really looking forward to hosting Regionals and I hope you all come out and support our wrestlers, and bring some friends to watch and cheer for us, too.”