Winona wrestles to state
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-Photo courtesy of Fred Knebel
The Pirate Wrestling Program will be represented at the Mat Classic XXXIV in Tacoma by 182-lb. Curtis Winona, who captured a berth in the tournament by finishing third at the 1B/2B Region 3 Tournament in Reardan last weekend.
REARDAN–Pirate wrestler Curtis Winona bounced back from a first-bout defeat to win the next two outings and finish third in the 182-lb. bracket at the 1B/2B Region 3 Tournament here Saturday, February 11.
He will wrestle at the Mat Classic XXXIV in the Tacoma Dome Friday and Saturday, February 17 and 18, where the junior wrestler is first pitted against Evan Kunkel of Napavine, also a junior, in Bout 7.
"Curtis Winona was in top form today," said Head Coach Mat Slaybaugh.
"He lost a tough semifinals match but went on to win his next two matches with pins," Slaybaugh said. "His third-place match was against an opponent he had previously lost to. Curtis controlled the tempo of the match and ended with a pin late in the third round."
In the opening round, Winona had a bye, meeting undefeated senior Jeshua Cwik in the second round, and dropping a competitive 10-5 decision to Cwik.
Bumped into the consolation bracket, Winona faced Sterling McLaughlin of Reardan, winning at 1:14 then going against John Pierce of Almira-Coulee-Hartline, where Winona won by fall at 3:54.
"Nick Hastings wrestled well going 2-2 on the day," Slaybaugh said. Hastings's losses were close matches but didn't go his way, he said. However, Hastings's fifth-place qualified him as an alternate to travel to Tacoma with the hope of keeping his senior season going.
Hastings opened against Dylan Valadez of Mary Walker-Springdale, ending by fall at 6:00. The Pirate senior pinned Roy Greer of Mary Walker at :34, but was bumped into the fifth-place bracket with a loss-by-ball to Reardan's Carson Durbin. In the final bout, he pinned Paul Stout of ACH at 2:27.
Freshman Peyton Cannon had a tough day that ended his otherwise great season, Slaybaugh said.
Cannon opened the 160-lb. bracket against Preston Michel of Wilbur, but was pinned at 1:49 to drop into the consolation bracket. He advanced past Colton Truesdale of Davenport by injury default to face Matthew Wines of Davenport, slipping to the fifth-place bout where he was pinned by Jaxson Hamilton of Northwest Christian.