Blackhawks defeat Greyhounds, compete in Ellensburg

The Cheney Blackhawks wrestling team continued to roll through the season with a dual meet and a tournament this past week.

The team first competed in a dual meet against the Pullman Greyhounds in a league contest, Jan. 15. The Blackhawks beat the Greyhounds 61-12.

In the first match of the night, Cheney’s Braden Wirth, competing at 113 pounds, pinned Joe Harris with 22 seconds left in the third round.

In the second bout, Cheney’s Andrew Jenkins moved up to 120 pounds to face Cole Dahmen. After close first and second rounds, Jenkins scored a reverse in the last minute to win the match by decision, 5-3.

Cameron Wiseman, at 132 pounds, scored more points for Cheney after he pinned Devyn Weignert. His teammates Vern Sanderson and Devon Waterman also scored pins in their matches. Sanderson, at 145 pounds, defeated Matt Pru and Waterman, at 182 pounds, beat Zach Toyoda.

Several Cheney wrestlers scored points via forfeit, including Josh Wessels, Michael Ferguson, Kodi Smith and Garrett Pederson.

In the last match of the night, Blackhawks’ Taylor Mgyuen defeated Grant Harris by majority decision, 12-4.

Head coach Brad Rasmussen said the team was looking to improve after Deer Park and the kids showed a lot of heart during the match.

Three days after the dual against Pullman the team traveled to Ellensburg to compete in the Westberg Wrestling Invitational, Jan. 18. The Blackhawks took fifth place as a team with 142 points.

Sanderson and Wessels took home championships in the 138 and 170 weight divisions, respectively. Smith took second place at 220 pounds.

In addition to Sanderson, Wessels and Smith making the finals, Cheney had three third place finishers and one fifth place finisher.

Rasmussen said he was happy with how the team wrestled in the tournament.

“Having three in the finals and seven overall placers is something to really be proud of as a team,” Rasmussen said. “They have really worked hard the last few weeks and it’s nice to see some of that pay off.”

The team returns to Cheney to face the East Valley Knights, Jan. 22. The results from that meet will be in the Jan. 30 edition of the Cheney Free Press.

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].