Three Cardinal Wrestlers Medal at Pomeroy Tourney

POMEROY – The Waitsburg Cardinals faced tough competition amongst 17 teams representing regional schools from Washington, Oregon and Idaho at the annual Pomeroy Christmas Tournament on Thursday.

Weather once again brought changes to the winter sports schedule as other regional tournaments were cancelled, and Pomeroy accommodated additional teams looking to compete by adding an additional bracket round to the weight classes, as well as girls' brackets.

Teams at this year's tournament included all school sizes and a lot of fierce competition. Schools participating included: Waitsburg, Pomeroy, Colfax, Lind-Ritzville, Joseph, Enterprise, Clarkston, Pullman, Kittitas, Mabton, Hanford, Clearwater Valley, Orofino, Grangeville, Union, Potlatch and Willappa Harbor.

Six Cardinals competed in the tournament, with three wrestlers bringing home medals.

At 138 pounds, David Just won his first-round match versus Matt Crateau (Hanford) by pin 0:27. In the second round, Just was defeated by Jayson Blackburn (Union) by pin 3:30. Just then defeated Weston Arnzen (Grangeville) by technical fall 3:01. Just's day ended after getting caught in a cradle by Dillio Vaughn of Clarkston. Vaughn pinned Just at the 1:13 mark.

"David wrestled hard today," said Waitsburg wrestling coach Lanny Adams. "He had some tough competition. He got caught in a cradle and just couldn't get out of it."

At 145 pounds, Devon Newman advanced through the first round with a bye. In the second-round, Newman was defeated by Leighton Nedrow (Clarkston), by pin at 1:00. Cedar Fisher (Clearwater Valley) pinned Newman in his next match,

"Wasn't Devin's day today," Coach Adams said. "He got caught a little high in his last match and ended up getting turned. We have a couple of things to work on before our league meet in Liberty."

At 152 pounds, DeJay Meier was defeated in his first match against Clayton Meyer of Orofino with a technical fall at 2:26. Marty Dickenson (Clarkston) pinned Meier in the next match at 0:46.

"DeJay worked hard. He is still adjusting to his wrestling prosthetic and stabilizing his base," said Adams.

At 170 pounds, Ky Adams wrestled especially hard and earned the third-place medal. Adams advanced on a bye in the first round. In the second round, he defeated Ben Smith (Clarkston) by technical fall of 18-3 (time not recorded). Adams lost to Taylor Roy (Clearwater Valley). Roy won by decision of 9-2.

"This was a tough match. Ky was on the offense most of the match. Roy just had good counters to Ky's shots," Coach Adams said.

In the consolation bracket, Adams defeated Nick Hardin (Orofino) by pin at 2:47, which advanced him to the match for third place. Adams won, pinning Josh White (Hanford) at the 1:29 mark.

At 182 pounds, Joe Adams received a bye in the first round. In the second-round match, Adams made quick work of Johnny Sarbacher (Enterprise), pinning Sarbacher in 27 seconds. Adams was defeated by Layton Paul in the third-round matchup. Paul pinned Adams, 3:23.

"Joe gave up about eight inches in height against his opponent. He wrestled hard and scored first. Unfortunately, he got caught and couldn't get out from underneath," Coach Adams said. Joe Adams then pinned Jonathon Juarez (Willapa Valley) in 47 seconds, advancing him to the medal round for third/fourth. Adams pinned Brandon Bell of Clarkston at the 2:11 mark to bring home the third-place medal.

At 285 pounds, Tyler Hoffman placed fourth. Hoffman had a bye in the first round. He then defeated Jesus Matta (Mabton) by pinning him with a tight cradle at 1:26. Hoffman was defeated in his third-round match by Keira Owens (Clearwater Valley). Owens pinned Hoffman at 1:53.

"Tyler shot first and got the takedown. He turned his opponent but kept his hips a little high and got rolled. Little mistakes like that, we can fix," said Coach Adams.

Hoffman defeated Marcus Patterson (Clarkston) by pin at 1:41 to advance to the third/fourth-place bout. There he was defeated by Cody Gludt of Potlach, who won by pin at the 1:46 mark.

"There was a lot of tough competition at this tournament," Coach Adams said. "We wrestled some teams that we will not see again this year, plus we got a chance to see some of our competition from the other regions prior to seeing them at the state tournament.

"There are moves that we need to work on getting out of, along with some we need to work on fine tuning. I am very pleased with the intensity that all six of the Waitsburg Wrestlers showed today," Adams added.

The Cards will travel to Liberty on Jan. 5 for a league match. This will be followed by the Chiawana tournament on Saturday, Jan. 7. The Cards sole home match this season will be Jan. 10.