WIAA wrestling at Mat Classic semifinals recap: Toppenish, Orting pile on points; Mead, Chiawana looking good in repeat effort

TACOMA - Reigning Class 1A champion Toppenish's pursuit of Mat Classic perfection Saturday wasn't ... well, perfect.

But it was pretty darned close.

The Wildcats advanced 12 wrestlers to the Class 1A finals in 14 weight classes - and ended the session with 333 points before the mid-afternoon championship finals were scheduled to begin.

"I'm pretty content with where we're at right now sitting at 12," Toppenish boys coach Pepe Segovia said. "I guess now the next goal is 12-for-12 in the finals."

The Wildcats' boys and girls teams combined to go 22-1 in the early session Saturday - and the lone loss was to a teammate.

Meanwhile, defending Class 2A champion Orting might not have been as dominant as Toppenish, but is equally convincing in ruling its classification. The Cardinals have seven wrestlers in the finals.

And the scary thing for Jody Coleman's group is it has very few seniors.

"I think everybody knows what we’ve got coming," Coleman said. "We’ve been working on it for 10 years, trying to get these kids here, watching them grow and watching them come up through the pipeline."

Buoyed by good morning sessions, three-time defending Class 4A champion Chiawana and reigning Class 3A champion Mead expanded on their overnight leads.

And the Riverhawks have two entrants in the 4A finals - defending champion Isaiah Medina at 113, and Daeton Johnson at 126.

Tonasket is well on its way in regaining the 2B/1B title it held in 2020. It has a commanding lead over Forks, and had five wrestlers in the finals.

Moses Lake and Toppenish girls are also in control of their respective tournaments. 

The marquee matchup of the morning session Saturday came in Class 4A at 132 pounds between two reigning Mat Classic champions - Sunnyside's Alejandro Fernandez and South Kitsap's Stone Hartford.

Fernandez led most of the way, scoring a third-round near-fall in posting a 10-4 decision.

Leaders in team scoring

Class 4A: Chiawana 141.0, Tahoma 121.5, South Kitsap 121.0, Sumner 119.0

Class 3A: Mead 195.5, Hermiston 172.5, Stanwood 162.0, Mount Spokane 155.0

Class 2A: Orting 231.5, Othello 120.0, W.F. West 120.0

Class 1A: Toppenish 335.0, Mount Baker 93.0, Omak 82.5

Class 2B/B: Tonasket 180.5, Forks 152.5, Chewelah 123.0

Large-school girls: Moses Lake 132.0, Yelm 105.0, Curtis 104.0

Small-school girls: Toppenish 265.0, White River 98.0, Royal 64.5