Brave Brawlers 7th at Coeur d’Alene tourney

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — Hunter Arriaga rallied through the consolation bracket and took a 9-2 decision over Zackery Motzkus from Battle Ground (Wash.) to take third place at the Tri-State wrestling tournament at 144 pounds.

Kellen Downing brought home fifth place with a pin over Hermiston’s (Ore.) Jayden Martinez at 132. 

Brett Chivers (157) and Kohen Riley (215) picked up seventh place finishes, while Colton Conover finished eighth at 175. 

“Wrestling goes in cycles and we, as a program, felt that this young team needed to get a feel of a little pain to improve and get better,” Brave coach Jeff Thompson said. “Kind of like that old saying ‘You need to wrestle the best to become the best.’ We will grow and improve from this competition. 

“It’s super exciting to see the improvement of this team already in 3 weeks of competition. Great things are in store for the young men.” 

The Braves finished seventh at the tournament in the team standings with 157.5 points. Orting (Wash.) won with 284 points over Tahoma (Wash.) at 243.5. Mead (Wash.) was third at 239.5. 

Conor LeDuc, Liam LeDuc, Caleb Poe-Hatton, Dayton Naldrett and Jakob Berry all made their way to Saturday’s action but fell in the blood round.