SPOKANE - After a resounding victory over Eastmont 67-9 in its first dual of the season, Moses Lake wrestling traveled to Central Valley High School for the Inland Empire Tournament.

The team placed second overall with 201 points, narrowly edging University High School's 200.

Post Falls High School, located in Idaho, placed first with 246 points.

"I was impressed with the way the wrestlers wrestled," head coach Jaime Garza said. "They wrestled with a lot of heart and it showed. We went out there and placed higher than the other 4A schools within our region."

The team had nine wrestlers place in the tournament with the potential for more. Garza said a few suffered some heartbreaking losses after being pinned while leading the match.

However, Garza was encouraged with how his team fared at the tournament and felt fortunate that the team was able to walk away with only a few minor injuries.

"We're right where we need to be," he said. "Now it's our job to continue to improve with nine guys... maybe we can send nine guys to state, but the magic number's going to be 11, 12 guys so we need some guys to show up."

Cooper McCullough and Jesus Cornejo placed second and fourth, respectively, at 106 pounds. In the 113-pound weight class, Fernando Leyva placed first and Trey Long placed second.

Clayton Clark took fourth place in the 126-pound weight class and was able to defeat a wrestler who took second in state for 3A in his second match of the tournament. At 132 pounds, Chase Clasen took second place and beat a wrestler in the semifinals who took second in state in Idaho's 5A division.

Hudson Mauseth (160 lbs.) and Jordan Lacelle (190 lbs.) took fourth and first, respectively. Dylan Morris (220 lbs.) rounded out the Chiefs who placed at the tournament with a fourth place finish in his weight class.

Despite taking second overall, Garza still felt there was room for improvement.

"We need to know where we're at, our mat presence needs to improve," He said. "Off the bottom position it's hand fighting so we can free our hips and allow us to escape."

The team will travel back to Spokane this week to dual East Valley (Spokane) Dec. 19. Now that Garza has had the opportunity to see his team wrestle multiple times he has a better gauge of what wrestlers need to improve on and the team should continue to be successful.

"Right now you're kind are coaching to some of the basic overall fundamental stuff and now its come back and you can be more specific in your coaching because you see what the kids need to work on," he said.

AROUND THE BASIN

Othello wrestling was able to narrowly defeat Stanwood 37-35 Friday.

Isaiah Barrera (106 lbs.), Eleazar Pruneda (152 lbs.), Jesus Montes (182 lbs.) and Bubba Ruiz (285 lbs.) all beat their opponent by fall. Ephrata bounced back from a loss to Quincy with a convincing win over East Valley (Yakima) 57-21.