Hall, Knauff third in state

Travis Knauff of Garfield/Palouse scored a second-round pin over Luke Wellander of Adna in his first match at Tacoma. Knauff finished with a third-place medal after an 8-4 win over league foe Thomas Perryman of Reardan in the consolation final. For more wrestling pictures, see Weekly Pages: Feb. 23.

Dane Hall of Colfax and Travis Knauff of Garfield/Palouse each placed third in the state wrestling finals, the Mat Classic, at Tacoma Saturday. The two wrestlers were part of a five-member delegation which rolled to Tacoma after punching tickets the previous Saturday in the regional finals at Northwest Christian.

Hall competed in the 152-pound class, and Knauff wrestled in the 145 class.

Nolan Burrill at 106 and Garrett Phillips at 113 just missed moving to the medal round by a match. Coach Dennis Gransbery noted the two lightweights were each on the way to a win before they were derailed by mistakes.

Chris Jones rolled up a 1-2 record in the 138-pound class, a weight which is populated by several tough wrestlers who qualified for the state finals.

Sophomore Augie Allenbach made the Tacoma trip after qualifying as an alternate in the 220 class.

Knauff and Hall each advanced to the state semi-final round before they were stopped and bumped to the consolation bracket. They each took two more wins to land the third-place medals.

Knauff won the consolation final with an 8-4 win over Thomas Perryman, the Reardan wrestler who defeated Knauff at the district and regional qualification rounds the previous two weeks.

Hall decisioned Ben Weber of Kittitas 7-1 in the consolation final of the 152 class. First-place winner for 152 was Justis Anderson, the Reardan wrestler who stopped Hall in the district and regional rounds. Anderson took the title on a 13-2 decision over Mathew Slade of Adna, the wrestler who beat Hall by three points in the semi round.

All five of the state competitors for the local team are underclassmen, so this season's accomplishments carry a lot of promise for next year.

Hall, Knauff and Jones went to state as juniors. Phillips is a sophomore, and Burrill is a freshman.

The state team competition, as predicted, turned out to be a battle between Reardan, the NE power club, and Tonasket. The team title went to Tonasket on a 184.5 total, while Reardan finished with 141.

Colfax placed 19th among the 42 teams with 25.5 points, and Knauff's finish garnered 18 points for Garfield/Palouse to put the Vikings in 26th place, ahead of five other teams with qualifiers from last week's east-side regional.

106-Burrill pinned Aaron Chetwood-Ilwaco 1;09, to Chase Stauf-Kalama 1-3, pinned Louis Vasquez 3:16, to Erick Espino-Pateros 4-7.

113-Phillips bye, pinned by Austin Brocke-Tonasket 1:46, pinned Josh Haas-Liberty 1:50, pinned by Ethan Hoggart-Kalama 2:43.

138-Jones to Corbin Balzer-Adna 0-2, bye, pinned by Tristan Chantry-Selkirk 2:19.

145-Knauff pinned Luke Wellander-Adna 3:07, over Zion Butler-Tonasket 16-2, to Braxton Dowell-Adna 5-6 in semi-final, over Tommy Ott-Kittitas 15-2, over Thomas Perryman-Reardan 8-4 for third place.

152-Hall over Colby Hutchinson-Kalama 4-1, over Austin Wood-Tonasket 5-3, to Matthew Slape-Adna 4-15 in semi-final, over William Woodward-Darrington 15-0, over Ben Weber-Kittitas 7-1 for third place.