Zack Nguyen had an easy win in the first round after pinning his opponent in 48 seconds at the Blackhawk Invite on Jan. 6. Nguyen went on to take first place in his 138-pound bracket.
The Cheney High School wrestling team fell 40-37 to Clarkston in a close Great Northern League match on Wednesday, Jan. 3. With the loss, the Blackhawks sit in third place in the league behind East Valley and Clarkston with a 1-1 record.
That was not the only wrestling this past week for Cheney as they hosted the Blackhawk Invite on Jan. 6. Cheney placed sixth overall out of the 15 teams competing with Medical Lake winning the team title.
"The results against Clarkston was not what we were anticipating," head coach Brad Rasmussen said. "I think the boys just put too much pressure on themselves and it ended up backfiring."
Against Clarkston, Boedy Taylor continued his winning streak pinning his opponent in the 182 pounds spot. Another pin for the Blackhawks was from Jackson Showalter at 132 pounds and Alan Coumbs (170).
Teagan Simon (120), Dylan Straley (126) and Michael Bozeman (138) also collected wins on the night for Cheney.
Despite finding success on the mats, the Clarkston Bantams ended up taking the victory with wins in the 106, 113, 145, 152 and 160 pounds spots. Clarkston also took wins by forfeit at 195 and 285 pounds.
"We just came up short and it was a little disappointing," Rasmussen said.
A few days later, Cheney picked up competition again at their own tournament and earned 112 points overall as a team.
There were multiple first-place finishers for the Blackhawks as Straley (126), Zack Nguyen (138) and Taylor (182) won their respective brackets.
"We had a lot of medals for us and we went 3 for 3 in the finals," Rasmussen said. "We had some good hometown spirit. We had a great tournament. The team was able to show everyone how good we are."
Straley had a win over Rogers and an overtime victory against Lakeside before claiming the title against Juddson Hall in a 14-2 major decision.
Nguyen claimed a victory over West Valley and two more over Pullman before pulling out a 3-1 win over Riley DeMent from Priest River.
Taylor took victories over Rogers, West Valley and Quincy before claiming the title in a 4-0 win over Tre Phillips from Rogers.
Simon (120) and Blake Seubert (145) also both took home medals after placing fourth place. The one other medalist for the Blackhawks was Anthony Aguilera (152), taking fifth.
Cheney had other success throughout the tournament with Blackhawks taking first place in the consolation bracket.
The first athlete was Ian Schwendiman who won the consolation bracket at 113 pounds. Right behind him was Billy Smith at 120 pounds, with a win over Brendan Reeves from Priest River in the final match.
Hunter Despino was the next CHS athlete to take first in his consolation bracket at 126 pounds with a victory over Tanner Lange from Clarkston in the final match.
Next up for the Blackhawks was Showalter (132) and Bozeman (132) in the consolation victory match. Showalter ended up taking the victory with a 12-5 decision.
Coumbs (170) also earned first in the other side of the bracket with a victory over Carson Hudson from Kellogg.
Cheney continued GNL competition at home against West Valley on Wednesday, Jan. 10. The Blackhawks will travel to Ellensburg to compete at the Ray Westberg tournament this Saturday, Jan. 13. GNL action will close out on Jan. 17 at East Valley High School.
"Our goal is to keep it simple and I am very excited to see what the boys will do," Rasmussen said.
Grace Pohl can be reached at grace@cheneyfreepress.com.
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