QUINCY — The Quiny Jacks wrestling team hosted Selah in their first league match of the season where both teams found success on the mat. The Jacks will use this match to kick off their season as the competition begins to ramp up over the next few weeks. 

Girls 

The Jacks girls team faced a young Selah team in their second dual of the season. Girls Head Coach Mark Kondo said the team showed great determination and were fierce on the mat with some of their own younger athletes coming through. 

“I think we had three or four freshmen in our lineup and they did a good job,” said Kondo. “The girls that we’ve got back were aggressive too, so all in all I felt like we had a good match last night. There was a good crowd, and I think they enjoyed that, so it was a good night.” 

Two freshmen in the lineup, Alexia Avalos and Arlette Lopez with Avalos at 125 pinning her opponent in 0:40 and Lopez at 170 pinning her opponent in 0:30. This was the first varsity match for these two, and the coach said that it was a very good showing for their start. 

Another standout performance came from Klare Gans who won in her match 7-3 after being moved up to the 125 weight class. Kondo said this match was very pivotal as it was uncertain how she would do but was proud to see Gans prove herself. 

The five state returners from state last season, Crystal Perez, Emiko Kondo, Jourdan Ferguson, Kim Solano and Haley Cortade are all looking to come back strong this season. Kondo, Ferguson and Solano each earned victories in their first meet of the year while Perez fell 4-7 in the 120 class and Cortade had a slow start due to a high ankle sprain she suffered during the soccer season. 

Kondo said he expects each of the girls who made state last year to return at the end of this season along with a few others who have shown great progression so far. 

“The big thing for us is that we emphasize just getting better each day, each week so that we’re wrestling and peaking when we get to the tournaments in February,” he said. 

This year the Jacks have about 40 girls on the roster, which is a major increase in their number from last season. The coach said this growing number of wrestlers is something that has been prevalent all across the Central Washington Athletic Conference this year. 

Having a large number of girls on the roster has been great for keeping up the atmosphere in the room during competition but has also had to do a lot more of teaching the new girls on the team. Kondo said this has not slowed down their momentum as the new wrestlers seem to be quickly catching on. 

“I feel like we’re making progress. We’re going in the right direction and we’re learning each day, each match,” he said. “We look forward to Christmas break; we’ll get a chance to really work on some technique without duels on Tuesday and tournaments on Saturday.” 

Kondo said these next few weeks will be integral for them to grow as they head deeper into the season in one of the toughest wrestling leagues in the state. 

The Jacks will head to Lake Roosevelt to compete on Saturday at 10 a.m. for their final meet before the break. 

Boys 

The Jacks boys team was evenly matched against their tough CWAC rival, Selah on Wednesday, but Quincy would ultimately fall short 35-44 during the meet. Selah dominated in the lower weight classes while Quincy took hold of the higher weight groups. 

“It was a good welcome back to the CWAC, league match for the season,” said Boys Head Coach Breck Webley. “It was really competitive, and we had a great hometown environment.” 

The energy of the fans in the environment added a great deal of pressure onto the night’s matches, which Webley said was a good thing to have. 

“I was telling the guys, ‘Pressure is a privilege. You should feel privileged to be able to be in this environment and have this moment,’” said the coach.  

Some of the Jacks wrestlers were bumped up during Wednesday’s meet to fill in those who were out with illness. One of the guys who stepped up, freshman Lucas Martinez wrestled at 132 lbs. Wednesday, which was a weight class higher than the 126 lbs. he was used to and still earned himself a 23-6 victory. 

Another player who got bumped up was Jacks senior Jace Reyes who wrestled at 144 lbs. against Selah’s Cohen Hunt and earned a 3-0 victory. One of the other seniors, Noe Garcia, won his match 19-3. 

“Those guys have been good leaders on the team on and off the matt for us the past couple duels,” said the coach. 

The loss ultimately came down to a couple of pins that ended up going the other way to favor Selah and some losses that could have been avoided depending on the decisions made, said Webley.  

“Those ones hurt when a duel comes down to something that tight, and we know it’s because we make a mistake or two that we shouldn’t have from a wrestler with enough experience to know,” he said. “But we live and we learn, and we’re going to learn from it and move forward.” 

One of the key takeaways that the coach said he wants the Jacks to work on as they move forward is their pinning combinations and improving on how to score when one of their wrestlers is on top and has their opponent on their belly. Another important aspect of the game that they learned in their first home match was not to allow their nerves to get to them. 

“They start that first round just full on going crazy and then second round rolls around and you could see they kind of hit a wall,” said Webley. “Just learning from that of how to pace yourself, how to control your breathing a little bit better so that you can be more prepared for a full match.” 

As the Jacks prepare for the busy schedule ahead, he said to his wrestlers that it’ll be important to use this match as a steppingstone rather than a setback. 

“We have so much wrestling that happens still, and there’s so much that we can learn from tonight and the upcoming events here in the month of December,” said Webley. “Let’s just keep on putting our shoulder to the wheel here and looking to get better.” 

The Jacks' next meet will be at 9 a.m. on Dec. 27 at Royal High School. 

Girls Results 

100: Izabel Ruiz (SELA) over Mia Garcia (QUIN), 3-6 

100: Lukah Bonner (QUIN) over Vanessa Esquivel (SELA), 3-0 

100: Amairy Cortes (QUIN) over Vanessa Esquivel (SELA), 3-0 

100: Erica Wangler (SELA) over Kimiko Kondo (QUIN), 0-3 

105: Emiko Kondo (QUIN) over Jazzmine Ruiz (SELA), 3-0 

105: Chloe Mahre (SELA) over Naylanie Heras (QUIN), 3-2 (Mahre pin at 1:54) 

110: Brielle Baughman (QUIN) over Kailey Johns (SELA), 6-1 

110: Anahi Carrillo (QUIN) over Judith Espinoza (SELA), 6-4 

110: Nyomi Flores (QUIN) over Sandra Quintero-Colmenares (SELA), 3-0 

115: Jade Guerrero (QUIN) over Kaydin McDonald (SELA), 4-7 (Guerrero pin at 1:12) 

115: Emily Ruiz (QUIN) over Chloe Mahre (SELA), 15-14 

120: Gabbie Gonzalves (SELA) over Crystal Perez (QUIN), 4-7 

120: Alexia Avalos (QUIN) over Vianna Sanchez (SELA), 4-0 

120: Adilene Cambray-Barajas (SELA) over Yaritza Vazquez (QUIN), 8-4 (Cambray-Barajas pin at 4:18) 

125: Preslee Wright (SELA) over Alexia Avalos (QUIN), 4-7 

125: Klare Gans (QUIN) over Adelynn Husted (SELA), 7-2 

130: Allison Pedroza (QUIN) over Cassidy Murphy (SELA), 3-0 

130: Madalyn Knoll (SELA) over Devany Ochoa (QUIN), 3-3 (Knoll pin at 2:21) 

130: Natalia Avalos (QUIN) over Adilene Cambray-Barajas (SELA), 9-4 

135: Thalia Castro (QUIN) over Olivia Eismann (SELA), 9-6 

140: Jourdan Ferguson (QUIN) over Arionna Wangler (SELA), 3-0 

145: Kimberly Solano (QUIN) over Heydi Briseno (SELA), 4-0 

155: Aaliyah Sotelo (SELA) over Gabriela Lopez (QUIN), 0-6 

170: Arlette Lopez (QUIN) over Shayla Clark (SELA), 3-0 

190: Arianna Zetina (QUIN) over Myah Cleverly (SELA), 10-1 

235: Gabrielle Burkett (SELA) over Abigail Garcia (QUIN), 3-2 (Burkett pin at 1:26) 

Boys Results 

106: Gunner Goetz (SELA) over Jacinto Camacho (QUIN), 3-9 

113: Kainoah Hernandez (SELA) over Lorenzo Bernal (QUIN), 5-17 

113: Cash Burton (SELA) over Luis Samuel Alejandrez (QUIN), 4-18 

120: Fabian Lopez (SELA) over Luis Samuel Alejandrez (QUIN), 6-18 

120: D’anthony Garcia Reyes (SELA) over Kevin Morales (QUIN), 1-1 (Garcia pin) 

126: Jairo Diaz Lopez (SELA) over Jojo Rodriguez (QUIN), 4-19 

126: Santan Cerna (SELA) over Jayden Valenzuela (QUIN), 5-14 

126: Valentino Recio (SELA) over Johnny Blancas (QUIN), 1-1 (Recio pin) 

126: Braiden Irish-Riveira (QUIN) over Mason Burmaster (SELA), 4-3 

132: Lucas Martinez (QUIN) over Owen Hayes (SELA), 23-6 

138: Trace Hayes (SELA) over Izyk Vasquez (QUIN), 3-9 

138: Jones Ferguson (QUIN) over David Duran (SELA), 5-7 (Ferguson pin) 

144: Jorgie Castro III (QUIN) over Alan Roa-Hernandez (SELA), 8-2 

144: Liam Fox (QUIN) over Jaden Hopkins (SELA), 13-4 

144: Jace Reyes (QUIN) over Cohen Hunt (SELA), 3-0 

144: Fabian Jimenez (QUIN) over Alex Roa (SELA), 9-3 

150: Carter Collins (SELA) over Jody Gardner (QUIN), 1-16 

150: Noe Garcia (QUIN) over Damian Peterson (SELA), 19-3 

157: Joseph Gavica (SELA) over Diego Diaz (QUIN), 1-1 (Gavica pin) 

165: Jose Medina (QUIN) over Jaime Salmeron (SELA), 3-1 

165: Enrique Rebollo (QUIN) over Matthew Galloway (SELA), 1-1 (Rebollo pin) 

175: Angel Farias (QUIN) over Jacob Goin (SELA), 1-1 (Farias pin) 

190: Mario Lamas (SELA) over Anthony Averill (QUIN), 1-18 

215: Alejandro Barajas (QUIN) over Shaun Lay (SELA), 1-1 (Barajas pin) 

285: Israel Ramirez Jr (QUIN) over Eduardo Lamas (SELA) 1-1 (Ramirez pin) 

    Brielle Baughman, a freshman from Quincy, pins her opponent Kailey Johns during her victory on Wednesday.
  

    Jacks senior Thalia Castro wrestles against Olivia Eismann in the 135 lb weight class. Castro came up with a victory at 3:23.