Columbia High’s Rafael Matos attempts a sweep single leg takedown on Pierce McCoy of Goldendale during a consolation bout at last Saturday’s Bruin Interstate Invitational Wrestling Tournament. Matos won the 160-pound match by fall to advance to the consolation semifinal round against Lucas Gardner of Rex Putnam. Matos scored a 15-5 decision to qualify for the consolation final but had to forfeit to Daniel Wedgewood of Goldendale due to injury default.
Columbia High’s Rafael Matos attempts a sweep single leg takedown on Pierce McCoy of Goldendale during a consolation bout at last Saturday’s Bruin Interstate Invitational Wrestling Tournament. Matos won the 160-pound match by fall to advance to the consolation semifinal round against Lucas Gardner of Rex Putnam. Matos scored a 15-5 decision to qualify for the consolation final but had to forfeit to Daniel Wedgewood of Goldendale due to injury default.
Seven of the 10 Columbia High wrestlers who took part in last Saturday’s fourth annual Bruin Interstate Invitational Wrestling Tournament in Miller Gym made it onto the medal podium.
All told, Columbia crown-ed one champion and three runners-up in the daylong tournament that also featured wrestlers from Golden-dale, Hood River Valley, Washougal, Stevenson, and Rex Putnam (of Milwaukie, Ore.). A team from Fort Vancouver also was scheduled to attend but did not show up. As a result, the brackets for the tournament had to be revised Saturday morning before wrestling could commence.
James Bell led the way for the Bruins as he won the six-man 138-pound bracket with a pin of Washougal’s Dylan Cherry early in the second period of their title bout. He went 2-0 on the day; he opened with a 12-5 decision over Nick Wolfe of Washougal.
Fletcher Andrews also wrestled in a six-man bracket, at 132, and finished as the runner-up to Brice McDonald of Rex Putnam. Andrews pinned Morgan Murray of Putnam at :56 in his first match, then lost a major decision to McDonald, 13-2, in the championship.
Eli Bell and Tristan Rosander also scored second-place finishes for the Bruins, who tied Stevenson for fourth place with 89 points.
Bell, too, received a first-round bye in his six-man 120-pound bracket. In his first match, Bell opposed Steven-son’s Josh Sholes and prevailed by fall at 1:03. In the championship, Bell lost Dyl-an Kiemele of Washougal by fall at the end of the first period.
Rosander competed in a seven-man bracket at 170 pounds and opened with a first-round pin of Golden-dale’s Cort Ladiges at 1:52. Rosander advanced to final with a pin of Nick Foss of Goldendale at 2:35.
That set Rosander up for a final against Bryce Wilkins of Goldendale. The Timber-wolf, who opened with a bye, pinned Jesse Keehr of Stevenson in the second round at :45 of the first period, then Rosander at 2:14 of the second period to claim the weight class.
Columbia picked up its last few points when Paul Demchuk defeated teammate Alex Medina by injury default in the consolation match in the four-man 220-pound bracket.
Demchuk dropped the only match he wrestled to Tanner Wah of Putnam, by 5-3 decision.
CHS’s Rafael Matos also reached the consolation final, wrestling in an eight-man bracket at 160, but had to withdraw from his final against David Wedge-wood of Goldendale due to injury.
In the three-man heavyweight bracket, Columbia’s Kate Oriz placed third.
On the day, the Bruins had four finalists and seven placers. They won seven of their 18 matches by pin fall and one by major decision (8-14 points).
Chase Thompson (160) and Amanda Waldron (113) also wrestled for CHS but did not place.
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