Reardan hosts Torin Zagorski Memorial match

Pins flew fast in a compact wrestling tournament where young athletes from rural schools demonstrated grit and technique on the mats.

Reardan hosted the Torin Zagorski Memorial on Dec. 20 in Reardan, with five teams competing in the boys division: Colville, Reardan, Lind-Ritzville/Sprague, Mary Walker and Pomeroy.

Reardan claimed five individual titles in the boys tournament. Carson Kline won at 132 pounds, Owen Pendell at 138, Parker Gralapp at 144, Alex Matusik at 157 and Nate Pendell at 165. Avdii Pozdeev placed second at 144, Lane Butterfield third at 285 and Dominic Mischel fourth at 175.

Lind-Ritzville/Sprague notched wins, including Wyatt Crow's pin over Reardan's Christian Miller in 0:48 at 138 pounds and Gabriel Munga's pin over Mischel in 1:12 at 175.

Reardan coach Carson Durbin praised his team's focus.

"The athletes came out and they wrestled well," Durbin said. "You know, we had a good day, and I couldn't ask for anything better, you know, concentration wise, everything, they're all ready to go all day."

Durbin noted tough competition ahead.

"The opponent, we haven't seen the league yet, you know, we wrestled these guys, Colville really good," he said. "Lind-Ritzville/Sprague really good. You know, it's just gonna be down to the wire thing."

Lind-Ritzville/Sprague assistant coach Walter Crow highlighted his young team's performance.

"I figured we would. I feel we were pulling away with some good matches," Crow said. "Strong and, we're young. So, I don't know, on this side, so. Today, Lind-Ritzville/Sprague boys did a really good job. We had the top three placers and a lot of our weight classes."

Crow described the event's scale.

"It wasn't a lot of student athletes at this tournament," he said. "It was small in size and scope, but we had a lot of round robins and just one on one match. We had a good showing."

Crow identified a key strategy.

"The turning point from these matches was us getting behind our opponents and really controlling the hits," he said.

In the girls division, seven teams competed: Colville, Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls), Lind-Ritzville, Mary Walker, North Central, Pomeroy and Reardan.

Mary Walker topped the girls team standings with 75 points, followed by Lind-Ritzville with 71, Lakeside with 46, Colville with 40, Pomeroy with 31, North Central with 24 and Reardan with 4.

Reardan's Christina Jean Mitzimberg placed fourth at 115 pounds.

Carson Kline pinned Seth Finley of Mary Walker in 5:09, Nevin Eslick of Colville in 0:30, Connor Obrien of Lind-Ritzville/Sprague in 1:52 and Wyatt Gibler of Lind-Ritzville/Sprague in 0:44 at 132 pounds.

Owen Pendell pinned Will Crow of Lind-Ritzville/Sprague in 0:23 and Arliss Bray of Pomeroy in 2:21 at 138 pounds.

Parker Gralapp pinned Patrick Highfill of Mary Walker in 1:12, Moses Mungia of Lind-Ritzville/Sprague in 1:05 and defeated Isaiah Busby of Lind-Ritzville/Sprague by major decision 3-12 at 144 pounds.

Alex Matusik pinned Jackson Hutchens of Pomeroy in 3:16 and Jordi Antolin of Mary Walker in 0:26 at 157 pounds.

Nate Pendell pinned Frankie Leyba of Lind-Ritzville/Sprague in 1:27 at 165 pounds.

Lane Butterfield pinned Obadiah Richard of Mary Walker in 0:37 and defeated Tyson Kane of Mary Walker 5-1 at 285 pounds.

Reardan's boys wrestling team faces Freeman at 9 a.m. Dec. 30, followed by a boys and girls dual against Okanogan on Jan. 2.