QUINCY — The Quincy Jackrabbits boys wrestling team qualified three wrestlers for Mat Classic XXXV at the Region 4 1A tournament at QHS last Saturday.

Junior Saidt Alvarez took third in the 113-pound weight class with a 7-1 win over Mack Pell of Cashmere. Senior Kaleb Kempel advanced with a 3-2 decision over Benson Osborne of Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) in the 175-pound weight class. Sophomore Alejandro Barajas also finished third, beating Ian Garzon-Lopez of Cashmere 5-1 in the 190-pound class.

The top three finishers in each weight class qualify for the state tournament. The fourth-place finisher is the alternate, in case any of the first three can’t compete. 

Coach Breck Webley said the Jacks exceeded expectations.

“We were hoping for a couple of kids to make it to state and we had three,” Webley said. 

“We have a couple wrestlers that were pushing close to 40 wins individually. So I was really believing they had a good shot as long as they wrestled well,” he said. “And there were a couple of other wrestlers we knew were sort of on the periphery - they would have to have a really great tournament, and hopefully some of their opponents would make mistakes that we could take advantage of. And we were able to do that with one wrestler.”

Junior Julian Silvas placed fifth at 175 pounds. Junior DJ Frerks was sixth in the 215-pound class, and sophomore Jayce Reyes placed sixth in the 126-pound class. 

Webley said sending wrestlers to state is a decades-old tradition in Quincy.

“We’ve had yearly state places for 30 years straight,” he said. “Since about 1994, Quincy has had at least one wrestler place at state. I feel that’s a really great accomplishment because that’s really tough to do.”

Both the wrestlers and the coaches put in a lot of work to get this far, he said.

Alvarez is a two-time state placer, and Webley said he thinks Alvarez has a good chance to place for a third year. Kempel almost qualified for state last year, his first year in the sport, Webley said. 

“He came in with a great work ethic,” he said.

Kempel learned quickly with help from the coaching staff.

“We’re hoping he can come away with a medal,” Webley said.

Barajas too is relatively new to wrestling; it’s his first year in Quincy and his first year in wrestling since middle school, Webley said.

“It’s been a revelation to have him on the team and to really help mold his technique,” he said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.

    Alejandro Barajas, in green, was one of three Quincy wrestlers to qualify for state with a third-place finish in regionals Saturday.
  

    Quincy wrestler Kaleb Kemple, in green, took third place in the Region 1A tournament and advanced to the state tournament.