SPOKANE — The Edmonds-Woodway wrestling team battled through a veritable murderer’s row of 3A competition at the 2016 Washington Dream Duals, beating Kelso, Auburn and North Central on its way to a third-place finish at the Spokane Convention Center.
Regarded as the elite dual-meet tournament in the state each year, Dream Duals brings together eight of the top programs in each classification for a day of team vs. team competition.
The eight teams in the 3A division — Mount Spokane, Kamiakin, Edmonds-Woodway, North Central, Kelso, Sumner, Auburn and Enumclaw — are all ranked in the top 12 in the state by Washington Wrestling Report.
In fact, the only team in the top eight not in Spokane was fourth-ranked Arlington.
The second-ranked Warriors defeated Kelso (tied for seventh) 37-34 in its opening dual and followed that up with a 37-31 victory over Auburn, which is tied with the Hilanders for seventh in the state rankings.
Third-ranked Mount Spokane, who went on to win the championship Saturday, knocked Edmonds-Woodway out of title contention in a 33-30 battle, but the Warriors rebounded to beat No. 6 North Central 36-31 to clinch third place.
Riley Seward (145/152), Mason McDaniel (170), Abdoulie Jatta (182) and Spencer Schultz (195) all went undefeated during the day for the Warriors, and each defeated top-flight opponents in the process.
Sidat Kanyi, ranked third in the state at 120 but wrestling up Saturday, turned in a pair of notable wins as well in beating No. 7 Christian Freund of Kelso and No. 2 Alec Hoover of Mount Spokane at 126.
Ebrima Fatty had perhaps the toughest matchups of the day for the Warriors, going 1-3 against a gauntlet of opponents while wrestling up a weight at 120.
Fatty, ranked fourth in 3A at 113 pounds lost a 3-1 decision to 10th-ranked Jordan Miller of Kelso, but pinned Auburn’s Patrick Duran in 17 seconds in the second dual.
Second-ranked Jake Howerton of Mount Spokane dealt Fatty a 9-2 loss before fourth-ranked Steven Kindya of North Central nipped the Edmonds-Woodway senior 3-2 in the third/fourth place dual.
The Warriors will travel to Ingraham for a dual on Tuesday before returning home to host Arlington on Friday night in one of the most highly-anticipated duals in the state.
Willapa Harbor Invitational
RAYMOND — Monroe captured the team title and five individual championships at the tournament in southwest Washington, which served as a homecoming for Bearcats coach Mark Dalbeck, who was raised in the area.
Dylani Trujillo (106), Edwin Aguirre (170), Deacon Thibault (182), Jacob Mast (195) and Josh Felder (220) all topped the podium for Monroe on Saturday.
Rubber Chicken Invitational
KALAMA — Sultan brought home yet another team title and also won a pair of individual crowns at the wonderfully-named event.
David Woo (113) continued his magnificent season with a victory in his weight class, and Morgan Yates did the same at 182.
No word on whether or not Woo and Yates received an actual rubber chicken for their efforts.
Jaguar Invitational
PUYALLUP — Snohomish placed sixth and Joessie Gonzales won the 125-pound weight class at the girls tournament on Saturday.
The Panthers also recorded a second-place finish with Diana Rodriguez at 115 pounds, and Irelynn Monaghan placed third at 190.
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