Two county wrestlers advance to regionals

COLBERT - Two Whitman County wrestlers qualified on Jan. 29 for the regional tournament.

Walker Montgomery, a Garfield-Palouse sophomore at 120 pounds, and Trentin Ensley, a Colfax senior at 182 pounds, placed in the District 7/9 tournament at Northwest Christian.

Tekoa-Rosalia freshman Cullen Billings was eliminated in the 145-pound class.

Montgomery finished fifth in his weight to advance.

He opened the tournament with a bye then was pinned by Republic-Curlew freshman Emaan Sandhu in 1:17. He then received three byes in the consolation round, before being pinned again, this time by Reardan freshman Troy Routh in 2:48.

In his bout for fifth, the final place that advances to regionals, Montgomery pinned Wilbur-Creston freshman Kameron Vinciguerra in 24 seconds. Vinciguerra finished sixth, and will be the weight class alternate.

Ensley, too, opened with a bye. In the quarterfinals, he edged senior Gregory Rainer of Jenkins, 6-4, in sudden-victory overtime.

That win propelled him into the semifinals against state-ranked senior Samuel Schneider of Davenport. Schneider pinned Ensley in 5:22, sending the Colfax wrestler to the consolation rounds.

There, Ensley picked up another win, pinning Kettle Falls sophomore Decon Medeiros in 4:25 to advance to the match for third and fourth.

In the medal match, he lost to Braedyn White, a Pomeroy senior, in a 19-5 major decision.

Finishing fourth, Ensley advanced to regionals.

Both Montgomery and Ensley will take this week off and return to the mat for the regional tournament Feb. 12.

Representing the Timberwolves, Billings opened with a loss, pinned by Jenkins freshman Hunter Stearns in the quarterfinals.

The loss moved Billings to the consolation round, where he received a bye before wrestling Jenkins senior Jonathon Thompson.

Thompson led that match 1-0 going into the third round. But Billings held on to long in an attempted throw and was pinned in 4:22, eliminating him from the tournament.

Thompson lost his next two matches and finished sixth, and will be the 145-pound alternate to regionals.