Four Cardinal Grapplers Advance to State

REARDAN – The WHS wrestling team took four wrestlers to the Regional meet in Reardan on Sat., Feb. 23, and all four advanced to the State tournament in Tacoma to take place Feb. 19 and 20. "That is the most wrestlers we have taken to state in the five years we have had the wrestling program. Both Chad (assistant Coach Chad Adams) and I are extremely pleased with how our wrestlers performed today," said Head Coach Lanny Adams following the meet.

David Lewis (113 lbs.) took a bye in round one and was pinned by Tommy Lininger of Selkirk 4:41 into round two. He took another bye in the consolation round but won against Tommy Luce of Northwest Christian in an 8-5 decision in a bid for third/fourth place standing. Lewis' bid earns the 8th grader a spot at state as the number three seed from region three.

"David wrestled smart on this match. He was taking shots and getting the takedowns. Once down, David controlled the hips and didn't let Luce score much," said Adams, commenting on the final round.

Junior David Just (138) also advances to State as the third seed in region three in his weight class. Just was pinned in 5:30 by Zayren Bubb of Selkirk in round one but made a critical win in round two, pinning Sam Boehm of Davenport in 3:51. He then won by a 13-6 decision against Nate Kieffer of Reardan before turning the tables on Bubb in a 9-5 decision in the final round, earning him third place.

"This was a greatly wrestled match on David's part. He wrestled like we knew he could," said Adams.

Freshman Ky Adams earned a spot as second place region three seed in the 145 lb. class. Adams dropped Zach Behrman of Wilbur in a quick 29 seconds in round one and pinned Justis Anderson of Reardan in 1:54 in round two.

"Ky has been hungry for this match ever since he lost to Anderson by one point last month in Ritzville. It was a sweet victory," said Coach Adams.

Ky gave up first place standing to Reggie Jones of Colfax, who pinned him in 4:41.

"Ky was down by four points going into the third quarter and needed five to win. He tried a double-Underhill and missed it. He got caught and Reggie kept Ky on his back," Adams said.

Three-time state contender Tristan Newman will make his fourth trip to the Tacoma Dome as the region three champion in the 285 lb. class. Tristan took a bye in round one, pinned Hunter Dawley of Reardan in 1:10 in round two and took first place standing from Cody Hoffman of Selkirk by medical default.

"Tristan went into his first match and controlled Dawley from the first whistle. Tristan move d him forward and se up the takedown. He caught Hunter in a barb-wire and turned him for the pin. I think that even if the had wrestled Hoffman, Tristan would have still been regional champion," Adams said.

Eighth grader Carlos Norris, who was the number one district seed in the 113 lb. class, was unable to wrestle due to a knee injury.

"That is a bummer that Carlos is not able to continue on to State. He had a very good shot at making it onto the podium," Adams said.

Adams said he and assistant coach Chad Adams are extremely pleased with how the Cardinal wrestlers performed. The team leaves for the State B Mat Classic on Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. The community is invited to line up on Main Street to show support of the athletes as they head off.

Wrestling starts on Fri., Feb. 19 and Sat. Feb. 20 at 10 a.m. both days.