Mat men earning wins on the road

The wrestlers of Lind-Ritzville/Sprague endured a hectic schedule just prior to Christmas, hitting the mats all over Eastern Washington. On Tuesday, Dec. 13, the Broncos traveled to Tri-Cities Prep. The team had been hit with the flu bug so only two wrestlers competed.

Keanu Niezwaag wrestled Mason Brown of Chiawana at 145 pounds. Niezwaag won by a score of 11-2. He then went against Joel Murillo of Chiawana and won by pin in the second period.

Ethan Melville wrestled at 160 pounds. He wrestled Jacob Schuh of Pomeroy and got his first win of the season. He pinned Schuh in the first period. He then wrestled Pepe Moreno of TCP. That was the watch of the night as it went back and forth with Melville losing by a score of 15-14.

Saturday, Dec. 17, the team traveled to Springdale for a tournament.

It was a large tournament with teams from East Valley of Spokane, Riverside, Selkirk, Oroville, Wilbur-Creston, Pateros, Freeman, Reardan, Almira-Coulee/Hartline, Kettle Falls, Wellpinit, Northwest Christian, St. John-Endicott, Newport, Liberty and Springdale participating.

The first wrestler was Kyle Ritz at 106 pounds and he went against Ethan Boswell of EV and lost by pin. He then wrestled Dylan Nickerson of Freeman and won by a score of 9-0.

Up next was Keanu Niezwaag at 145. His first match was with Wyatt Ginter of Pateros with Niezwaag winning by a score of 15-0. He then went against JT Webb of Riverside and won by a score of 8-0. This put him in the finals against Chance Blackburn of EV and Niezwaag won by a score of 22-6 to finish in first place.

Salvador Huitron wrestled at 152. He met Dan Kearny of Kettle Falls first and ended up losing by a score of 3-0. He then wrestled Tyler Weimerskirch of ACH, winning by pin in the first period.

Drew Wilke checked in at 160 and wrestled Austin Anderson of Kettle Falls and lost by a score of 6-2. He then dropped down and had to wrestle his teammate Melville and won by score of 12-6.

Melville wrestled Austin Manson of Freeman first and lost by pin. He then wrestled Wilke.

The last LRS wrestler was Grayson Morris at 220. His first match was against Marshall Hart of NWC with Morris winning by pin. He then wrestled Jace Malek of Reardan and lost by a score of 5-2. In his final match, Morris wrestled Alex Lopes of Oroville and won by pin in the first period to finish in third place.

The next match came on Dec. 20 at Pomeroy for a league match.

Teams attending were Reardan, St. John-Endicott, Garfield-Palouse, Waitsburg-Prescott, Colfax, Liberty, Pomeroy and the Broncos.

First up was Kyle Ritz at 106. He wrestled Clayton King of Pomeroy and was pinned in the second period.

Johnny Hernandez took the mat at 126 pounds to wrestle Kaleb Kolb of SJE. Hernandez won by pin. He then wrestled against Trapper Askins of Gar-Pal, winning that match by pin.

Niezwaag, 145, went against Jacob Moore of Pomeroy and lost by score of 11-2. He then wrestled Trenton Kitselman of W/P and won by pin in the first period.

Huitron wrestled Brandon Arenson of Colfax at 152 and lost by score of 13-2. He then wrestled Taylor Lewis of Pomeroy and won by score of 6-4. In his third match of the day, Huitron wrestled Nick Tewalt of Pomeroy and lost by a score of 8-1.

Wilke met Kevin Knaff of Gar-Pal and lost by pin in the 160-pound match. Wilke then wrestled Waylen Anderson of Reardan and lost by pin. He then went against Tyler King of Pomeroy, winning that match up with a pin.

Melville also wrestled at 160 against King and lost by pin. He then wrestled Schuh of Pomeroy in a back and forth match Melville eventually won, 12-10.

Just before Christmas on Dec. 22 the Broncos traveled to Oroville to attend The Okanogan Holiday Invitational.

The Broncos sent three wrestlers: Ritz, Hernandez and Melville.

Ritz wrestled Tim Frazier of Tonasket and lost by a score of 12-3. He then went against Tyler Whitmus of Ephrata.

“This match was tied at seven and Kyle had him in a cradle when Whitmus popped over and pinned Kyle,” head coach Jason Hilzer said of the exciting match.

Hernandez wrestled the eventual champ Jeffrey Stedfelt of Tonasket and lost by pin. He then went against Alex Johnson of Wahkiakum, this was a back and forth match with Hernandez winning, 8-7.

Melville won his opening round match before facing Corbin Ranek of Okanogan. Melville pinned Ranek. He then had to wrestle the defending state champion Gunnar Doggett of Liberty Bell and lost by pin.

This put Melville in a match against Cody Payne of ACH. He lost by pin, to finish in fourth place.

“I am very proud of these guys as the tournament was very tough and we competed very well,” Hilzer said.