It was another busy week for the Cheney High wrestling team, who lost a Great Northern League match to defending champion Clarkston, 46-32, Jan. 13, then traveled to Ellensburg and competed in the Ray Westberg Invite, Jan. 16, where Michael Ferguson (220 pounds) and Garrett Pederson (285) won their divisions.
“We knew it was a tough environment to go into,” head coach Brad Rasmussen said, referring to the Clarkston dual. “The kids were giving it everything they had.”
After Brendon Miller (138) scored the first pin for the Blackhawks, Cameron Wiseman (145) picked up a 15-0 technical fall win over Leighton Nedrow. Francisco Martinez (152) pinned Tanner Snodderly, who previously defeated him at the Blackhawk Invite, Jan. 2.
Boedy Taylor (170) pinned Aedan Galles and Ferguson (220) defeated rival Dylan Beeler, 6-4 in overtime.
“We were so pumped for Michael to get that win,” Rasmussen said. “He was working to get that victory forever.”
Pederson capped the Blackhawks’ scoring with a pin over Jeremy Flieshman.
Carrying his momentum from the Clarkston dual, Ferguson tore through this division at the Westberg Invite, pinning Ellensburg’s Chance Walker, Hanford’s Jonathan Burt and Sunnyside’s Jector Ramirez. Ferguson was also voted the “Most outstanding Wrestler” of the tournament for 152-285 pounds.
Pederson had a similar road as Ferguson. He pinned East Valley’s Koleman Kline and defeated Othello’s Chemi Cantu, 7-0. He pinned Sunnyside’s Alex Rodriguez in the championship match.
“Pederson wrestled the best I’ve ever seen him wrestle,” Rasmussen said. “It was great to see him win a tournament (this year).”
Devon Waterman (195) took second in his weight division. After a first-round bye, he pinned Sunnyside’s Daniel Huiza and defeated Ellensburg’s Andrew Carney, 8-2, to get to the finals. He lost a close 2-1 match against Othello’s Anthony Ruiz.
“We didn’t know with Devon, he had been out with mono for three weeks,” Rasmussen said. “Before the tournament he came up and said ‘Coach, I’m going to give it a shot.’ He did well, he stood toe-to-toe with Anthony Ruiz, who is No. 1 in the state at 195.”
Wiseman and Taylor were fifth in their brackets. After losing his first-round match, Wiseman defeated Kittitas’ Ben Weber, 8-6 and Sumner’s Cavan Weber, 5-4. He lost to William F. West’s Michael Matagi, 5-1 in the third-place match. Taylor went 3-2 in his bracket, losing to Kittitas’ Luke Pebbles, 10-2, in the third-place finals.
Billy Smith (106), Saul Bautista (120), Taylor Nguyen (126) went 1-2 before being eliminated in the consolation rounds. As a team Cheney finished seventh out of 15 teams with 109 points.
“A lot of kids came up clutch in the tournament, we saw a lot of good wrestling across the board,” Rasmussen said.
Cheney is 1-1 in GNL duals and 2-2 overall. They traveled to East Valley, Jan. 20 to face the Knights in a league dual.
“East Valley is loaded from top to bottom and once again we are going into a tough atmosphere,” Rasmussen said before the Jan. 20 meet. “It will be fun and competitive. We just want to have a good showing.”
Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.
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