Card wrestlers take it to next level

SPOKANE VALLEY — Head wrestling coach Matt Leenhouts wasn’t really looking for anything more than some challenging wrestling opportunities and a chance for his wrestlers to eat some humble pie against larger, 4A-type schools.

But his wrestlers surprised him.

“We had three placers,” Leenhouts said. “The most I’ve ever had was one.”

He may have had five, he said. But its education first, and Jared Pendell, who wrestled on Friday, had to bow out to take his SATs on Saturday.

Last weekend’s two-day Inland Empire Tournament at East Valley High School is typically a beat-down for smaller schools lik...