The Cheney High School wrestling team will be taking five wrestlers to the Mat Classic XXIX at the Tacoma Dome this weekend.
“It was a great day of wrestling,” head coach Brad Rasmussen said. “It was a little unexpected to have that many qualify and I was very happy with the results. We told all the kids they had a capability to make it to state.”
After their performances at the regional tournament at East Valley High School on Feb. 10, freshman Dylan Straley (126), senior Zack Nguyen (138), freshman Anthony Aguilera (152), senior Alan Coumbs (170) and senior Boedy Taylor (182) all qualified for state competition.
As a team, Cheney placed sixth out of the 14 teams with 83 points. Toppenish took first with 195.5 points.
“I was really pleased with our finish as a team,” Rasmussen said. “It is a tough place to be in our region and we competed really well.”
Both Nguyen and Taylor earned won their respective brackets at the regional competition.
Nguyen defeated Matt Hudak from Prosser with a 14-7 decision. In the semifinals, he went on to defeat Devon Salcedo from Quincy by a score of 8-1. In the first place match, Nguyen defeated East Valley’s Zachary Browsky 5-2.
Taylor started off the day with a major decision win over Andrew Showman from Prosser. In the semifinals, he pinned Quincy’s Ray Robinson in 3 minutes, 26 seconds. In the finals, Taylor defeated Cade Stevenson from Ellensburg 7-0.
Aguilera took third in his bracket, going 3-1 on the day. In his first match he won in a tiebreaker over Easton Roylance from Othello. He lost his next competition to Gaje Caro from West Valley 14-2. Aguilera then fought through the consolation bracket with wins over Othello’s Eric Gomez and Easton Roylance. Both of those wins were by a score of 5-3.
“Anthony as a freshman at 152 pounds is a tough bracket,” Rasmussen said. “He had sickness throughout the day but he battled through it.”
Coumbs placed fourth in his weight by going 2-2 on the day. His two loses were both from Victor Tafoya from Quincy in his first and final match of the day. In between, Coumbs pinned Alan Maceda from Ephrata and West Valley’s Tanner Jones to earn a place at state.
“Alan beat a kid from West Valley that he had lost to three times before,” Rasmussen said. “He was down 7-1 and had a great comeback to win it.”
Straley also earned fourth and a 2-2 record for his bracket. He had a 9-4 win over Jason Zuniga from Toppenish and a 12-4 major decision win over Ryker Freeman from Ellensburg. His two losses were against Kyler Romero from Toppenish in the semifinal match and Sergy Salas from Wapato in the finals match of the consolation bracket.
Jase Winner, Hunter Despino, Jackson Showalter, Blake Seubert and Mason Allen also competed at regionals but did not qualify for state.
The Mat Classic XXIX takes place at the Tacoma Dome this Friday and Saturday (Feb. 16-17).
“It was a great weekend and now we are looking forward to state,” Rasmussen said.
Grace Pohl can be reached at grace@cheneyfreepress.com.
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