ROYAL CITY — The Royal City Knights hosted a tournament in honor of Royal’s head coach Carlos Villa, who passed away last year. The tournament had 22 teams in attendance, including the Ephrata Tigers, Moses Lake Mavericks and Wahluke Warriors. 

“I feel like our girls wrestled really well as a group,” said Knights head coach Seth Weeks.  

The Knights took first in the tournament with a total of 217 points, followed by the Mavs in second with 159.5 points and the Tigers in third with 139.5 points. The Wahluke Warriors would finish in 16th with 27 points. 

By the end of the tournament, Royal had five girls take first, with Sophia Garza in the 100-lb class, Reese Prescott in the 115-lb class, Heaven Parker in the 120-lb class, Ruby Hernandez in the 130-lb class, and Elizabeth Jenks in the 170-lb class. Weeks said this tournament was important to remind the team to always take every match seriously and wrestle their hardest as they faced teams from 4A, 3A, and 2A schools. 

“I think this is the tourney where we kind of need to turn the corner and start getting ready for the postseason,” said the coach.  

Weeks said the upcoming tournament in Kelso for the annual Braided 64 tournament will be a big test for the Knights. This tournament is one of the biggest girls' tournaments in the state, and Royal will face both familiar and new tough opponents. 

In the coming weeks, he said it will be important to work with the Knights to make sure that the wrestlers are going to peak at the right time. In the next few days, the focus will be on working with conditioning and mental toughness.  

“A lot of girls will kind of peter out towards the end of the season or they might peak at the wrong time,” said Weeks. “If you don’t peak at the right time, you’re sometime,s I think in a downhill slide if you’re not mentally focused and ready for the postseason grind.” 

Ephrata Tigers Assistant Coach Jeff Spencer said he was very proud of the Tigers’ efforts at the tournament as they placed third with Adylene Sanchez in the 155-lb class and Tessa Hausken in the 190-lb class took first. 

One of the takeaways that Ephrata’s wrestlers learned from this tournament was how much perseverance can help them in their matches, said Spencer.  

“Just not giving up on stuff and continuing to wrestle through positions, it works out for them,” he said.  

The short time frame between competitions following winter break will help the Tigers prepare for the second half of the season, Spencer said, as it will all add up to what they will be dealing with in the postseason. 

“They’re wrestling two consecutive days, and it’s physically and mentally taxing and builds that mental toughness,” he said. 

The Tigers travelled to Spokane to compete in the Lady M2 Mallet tournament at John R Rogers High School. Results from this tournament will be posted at a later date. 

Friday’s tournament was also important to the Royal Community as it honored Carlos Villa, who had worked as the head coach for the Knights before passing away last summer. This season marked the first without his leadership, and this tournament was held to honor him. 

Weeks said this was a very emotional day for Royal, as many of the wrestlers were close with Carlos and are still dealing with his loss. Alongside the girls, members of the coaching staff had felt the weight of the loss, especially Assistant Coach Jerry Villa, the brother of Carlos. 

With all of this still fresh on the Knight’s mind, they still rallied to earn the top spot in the tournament that honored the man who made the program what it is today. 

“He was the guy who you’d hear him on the other end of the gym or from down the hallway talking to the girls and just really inspirational to the girls,” Weeks said. “He really built the program at Royal, so I’m just trying to carry on what he built.” 

Scheduling for upcoming competitions can be found on the Basin Sports Schedule on the Columbia Basin Herald website. Royal, Ephrata, Moses Lake and Wahluke will all take to the mat again Jan. 9 at the Kelso tournament with the first match starting at 9 a.m.  

Tournament Results:  

Royal: 1st 217 points 

100: Sophia Villafana 4th  
110: Dana Yorgesen 2nd
110: Sophia Garza 1st
115: Alina Valentin 4th
115: Isabel Barajas 2nd
115: Reese Prescott 1st
120: Heaven Parker 1st
130: Ruby Hernandez 1st
135: Evelyn Acencio 3rd
140: Hali Christensen 2nd
170: Elizabeth Jenks 1st
190: Leah Christensen 2nd  

Moses Lake 2nd 159.5 points 

100: Kayla Gonzalez 3rd  
105: Trinity Town 3rd
105: Adelaide Alonso 4th
125: Hayden Morris 1st
135: Meczi Johnson 1st
145: Anahi Garcia 1st
155: Emma Thompson 3rd
235: Izzabella Fredley 3rd 

Ephrata 3rd 139.5  

115: Natali Abundiz 3rd  
130: Alexandra Estrada Rangel 3rd
135: Addison Vasquez 4th
155: Adylene Sanchez 1st
190: Tessa Hausken 1st 

 Wahluke 16th 27 points 

No placers. Top Performances:
130: Sherlin Zapien (overall 2-2) fell to Alexandra Estrada Ranel (EPHT) in bout 282
135: Bailey Posey (overall 2-2) fell to Evelyn Acencio (ROYL) in bout 244
170: Dayra Paola Salas (overall 1-2) fell to Maria Aguilera (CGPL) in bout 184
235: Dyani Hernandez (overall 2-2) fell to Izzabella Fredley (MLHS) in bout 268 

    Wahluke’s Adriann Lovejoy Mitchell and Sofia Encarnacion Leon from Wapato lock together trying to topple the other during one of the 140-lb matches.
  

    Adelaide Alonso from the Mavericks looks for an opening against Connell’s Madison Magana during a 105-lb match at the Royal tournament.
  

    Moses Lake’s Ariah Loiseau and Royal’s Rebecca Carlson go head-to-head during a 110-lb matchup at the Royal tournament Friday afternoon.
  

    Aurora Santillan from the Knights works to hold down Claire Peterson from Okanagan during a 130-lb matchup at the Carlos Villa Memorial Tournament.
  

    Ephrata’s Emily Estrada Rangel works to bring down Kittitas’s Harlow Best in a 140-lb matchup at Friday’s tournament.