Whitman County wrestlers good as gold

DAVENPORT -Wrestlers throughout Whitman County had a busy week of competition. After a girls league meet in Newport on Jan. 10, the athletes participated in a league meet in Davenport on Jan. 12 and wrapped up with the Crusader Classic at Northwest Christian High School in Colbert on Jan. 14.

The Jan. 12 league meet was designated for male competitors, but several schools brought their female wrestlers along to compete.

Tekoa-Rosalia's Alexis Taylor, Washington's eighth-ranked small-school girls wrestler in the 145-lb. class, was one of those girls. She went 1-0 at the Davenport meet, winning her match via 5-0 decision over Ritzville's Emmy Klewin.

Garfield-Palouse's Laynie Southern was another girl competitor. She went 1-0 in her match, pinning Davenport's Emma Cash in 24 seconds. It was Southern's second win over Cash in a seven-day period. Southern had previously beat Cash at a Jan. 5 league meet in Colfax.

Tekoa-Rosalia's Bryce Casey went 1-1 in his matches, losing his first after suffering a pin in 51 seconds from Liberty's Maddox Strobel. Casey bounced back with a 52-second win via fall over Davenport's Nathan Miller.

For Colfax, Wyatt Southern won via 11-1 majority decision over Davenport's Brendan Peter-Biggs and Cooper Phillips pinned Reardan's Aiden Bodeau in 30 seconds.

Further results from the Jan. 12 league meet were unavailable.

Multiple wrestlers raised the gold medals at the annual Crusader Classic tournament on Jan. 14.

Taylor went 3-0 in her matches at the Colbert-hosted event, winning a gold medal in the process. She pinned Sandpoint's Rylee Hancock in 2:56 for her first win. Taylor went on to pin Rogers' Madisen Johnson and Liberty's Hailee Mitzimberg in 3:02 and 4:49, respectively.

Taylor was originally scheduled to wrestle Washington's fourth-ranked 145-lb. wrestler, Kettle Falls' Anna Hume in an exhibition match, but Hume could not compete due to injury.

Taylor's Tekoa-Rosalia teammate Matthew Gamez finished fourth in the boys' 152-lb. weight class, going 2-2 overall. Gamez won his first two matches via fall in 2:45 and 3:54 before losing via fall in 2:47 against Jenkins' Jared Haden in the semifinal.

Gamez wrestled Riverside's Bryce Scarpelli in the third/fourth place match, losing by way of 10-0 majority decision.

T-R's third wrestler, Casey, went 0-2 in the boys 145-lb. weight class, losing to Kettle Falls' Ethan Bolt by pin in 2:53, and to Rogers' Ethan Sweeney by 4-3 decision.

Garfield-Palouse's Walker Montgomery went 2-2 in the boys 126-lb. class, winning his first match by fall and losing in the quarterfinals the same way. Montgomery responded with a win by fall in 1:42 to advance to the consolation bracket semifinals, where he lost to East Valley's Teegan Martinez by pin in 2:33.

The second gold medal awarded to Whitman County was earned by Phillips, who was one of the three wrestlers to represent Colfax at the tournament.

Phillips went a perfect 4-0 in the boys' 120-lb. weight class, winning his first three matches all by fall, with a combined time of 4:22 to advance to the championship bracket.

Phillips wrestled longer in the championship match than his previous three matches combined, but came out on the winning end, beating Kettle Falls' Sam Drake by fall in 4:54.

Tristen Burd went 1-3 in the 285-lb. weight class, earning a fourth-place medal in the process. Burd won his first match by fall in 1:24, received a bye and then lost in 13 seconds in the semifinal round.

Burd was pinned by St. Maries' Jackson Nantell in 2:26 in the third- place match.

Wyatt Southern, the final Colfax wrestler represented at the Crusader Classic, went 1-2 in the boys' 138-lb. weight class.

Southern pinned Mt. Spokane's Majd Dimyati in the first round, then was pinned by Mary Walker's Thayne Crossley in the quarterfinal.

Southern was knocked out of the bracket in the second round of the consolation bracket by St. Maries' Dylan Hansen by way of 1:56 pin.

Female wrestlers last competed Jan. 17 at Rogers High School in Spokane (results were unavailable) and the male athletes will compete at a league meet today (Jan. 19) in Ritzville.