Cheney’s Eli Mason faces his Hermiston High School opponent in the semifinals for the 195-pound weight class.
The Tri-State Tournament at North Idaho College proved to be a tough arena for the Cheney wrestling team this past weekend.
Falling among the lower-placing teams, Cheney earned 28 points, with one wrestler in eighth place. Only a handful of wrestlers took part in the tournament, head coach Wade Schlotter said.
“Overall it was an OK showing. I didn’t think it was a good showing by us,” he said.
Zach Corean (220) ended up placing eighth in his weight class, and marked one of the successes at the tournament.
“It was nice to get Zach (Corean) placing,” Schlotter said.
Vern Sanderson also had a strong day, he said.
Eli Mason (195) seemed to be well on his way to another strong finish in the semifinals against Hermiston, when he suffered a concussion and was forced to withdraw.
“In that match he ended up getting concussed and wasn’t able to complete the tournament,” Schlotter said.
Many of the wrestlers in the tournament weren’t scheduled to compete until later in the evening Friday, Dec. 14. The time lapse likely caused some difficulties with the team, leading to a less-than-desired performance.
“They weighed in at 8 in the morning and didn’t wrestle their first match until 8 at night,” Schlotter said. “It’s a long day to get ready for a match late at night.”
Schlotter praised Sanderson’s efforts as of late, specifically noting his consistency in recent matches and hopes the trend will continue.
“Vern, he’s been really coming around,” he said.
Overall, Schlotter’s goal through the end of this year remains the same: keep kids healthy for matches.
“We’re just trying to keep everybody health and we’ll keep going into December,” he said.
Cheney moved on to host Colville High School Wednesday, Dec. 19. The team was preparing for a good challenge with Colville, which took 15th place at the Tri-State Tournament, earning 82 points over the weekend.
“We’re going to put the best kids we have in there, the best lineup we have,” Schlotter said before the match.
Results from the match against Colville were not available at press time and will be presented in next week’s edition.
James Eik can be reached at james@cheneyfreepress.com.
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