Ferderer, Hawks, Guiles head for State Tournament

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos wrestling squad traveled to Reardan High School for the Regional Tournament where 14 weight classes took to the mat to battle for the top five spots in each class.

The top five head onto the State Tournament, which takes place Feb. 19-20 at the Tacoma Dome.

Four Broncos wrestlers fought for these spots and three of them will head to Tacoma to compete for the state title.

Head Coach Jason Hilzer said the team wrestled well and were able to secure the number of State placements they had anticipated.

Matthias Ferderer wrestled first for the team in the 132-pound division.

Ferderer wrestled James Inabnit from Republic High School first. Ferderer pinned Inabnit in the second round.

In his next round, Ferderer fought against Graham Rocha from Northwest Christian High School.

Ferderer trailed Rocha going into the third round, 11-0. Though he closed the gap by earning six points, Ferderer ultimately lost the match.

After losing the second match Ferderer moved down to the consolation bracket where he faced Alex Diviney from Davenport High School. Ferderer pinned Diviney in the first round.

Ferderer’s final match guaranteed him third or fourth place, and a trip to the State Tournament. Even with this knowledge Ferderer stepped onto the match ready to win, which he did. He pinned his opponent, Justin Chapman also from Davenport in the first round.

This secured Ferderer in third place and a trip to State.

He will wrestle first for the Broncos on Feb. 19 at 11:16 a.m. in the Tacoma Dome versus Blaine Storms from Concrete High School.

Tucker Guiles took to the mat to face Daniel Coriell from Davenport High School for his first match in the 220-pound division. Guiles made quick work of this match by pinning Coriell in 41 seconds.

For his second match, Guiles faced Jake Harrington from Liberty-Spangle. In this match, Guiles lost by pin in the first round and moved to the consolation bracket where he received a bye.

He then wrestled for third or fourth place versus Nick McAdams from Colfax High School.

During the third period Guiles sustained a jaw injury. Rather than risking further injury, he chose to injury default and move to the State Tournament in fourth place.

Guiles will wrestle on Friday at 1:24 p.m. versus Brayden Olmstead from Concrete High School.

Karl Hawks took to the mat for one of his first tournaments in the heavyweight division since suffering a hand injury.

He received a bye for is first match and from there he moved on to face Cody Hoffman from Selkirk. He was unable to get settled in this first match and lost by pin in the first round moving him to the consolation bracket.

Hawks then took on Mike Oakley from Mary Walker High School. He remained in position throughout and took down his opponent and pinned him in the second round.

This match moved him to wrestle for third or fourth place. In this match he faced Hunter Dawley from Reardan High School.

Hawks secured his third place win by pin in nine seconds. He will now move on to wrestle Seth Bridge from North Beach High School at 1:40 p.m. on Friday.

Alex Whitman headed into the Regional Tournament as an alternate for the 138-pound division. Due to a broken collarbone for the second ranked wrestler, Whitman entered the tournament as number four seed.

His day began with a match versus Tristan Chantry from Selkirk High School. Chantry took down Whitman and pinned him in the second round of the match.

This dropped him to the consolation bracket where he received a bye due to his opponent, Jacob Seekins from Wilbur-Creston High School having to injury default out of the match.

In his next match he faced Zayren Bubb also from Selkirk. Whitman lost by pin in the first round of this match.

His final match of the day was to decide fifth place. This resulted in a high intensity match with the winner moving on to State and the loser’s season ending.

Whitman fought hard through the first period but moved out of position in the second. His opponent Nate Kieffer from Reardan High School, pinned Whitman and ended his chance at moving onto State.

The three qualifying wrestlers moving on will wrestle at least twice on Friday in Tacoma. Depending on the outcome of the matches, the Broncos come back the next day to try and earn a State ranking.