District wrestling begins this week for local teams. Toppenish and Wapato will travel to Central Valley High School in for CWAC competition.
Zillah and Granger will compete closer to home, as Granger is hosting the District event. Sixth-year Toppenish High wrestling coach John Cerna, Jr. is optimistic about his team’s chances going into the District wrestling competition on Friday. Toppenish is currently ranked fourth in the state class AA standings and his entire team is healing and injury free. The team finished 7-2 in dual action behind Othello, 9-0 and Selah, 8-1.
“Teamwise, we are really strong and we are coming off a really strong, good tournament in Idaho. We finished second against 26 schools including several really big schools from Idaho state,” said Cerna. “This is one of the best teams in a long time. We have worked really hard all year. We have no injuries and have stayed healthy.”
CWAC coaches met on Monday to rank and score wrestlers. Seedings were expected on Wednesday.
District wrestling competition begins on Friday at Central Valley High School. The top seven wrestlers in each weight class will advance to Regional action on Feb. 12 at West Valley High School in Spokane. The top five regional wrestlers will advance to the state’s Mat Classic on Feb. 19 at the Tacoma Dome.
“All the guys have been wrestling well all year, especially at the higher weights,” Cerna said. “We have continued to work on technique each week.”
Cerna had high praise for all his wrestlers. The coach listed the team’s top prospects to advance to the regional competition.
There are 14 weight classes, but each team can have up to two participants in each weight division.
103: Armando Hernandez: The junior has state experience serving as an alternate as a freshman and placed as a sophomore. Teammate Carlos Hernandez, a freshman has also wrestled well and could make the regional showing.
112: Jose Barrera finished fourth last year in the 103-weight division.
119: Aaron Arrendondo: A sophomore, Arredondo was seventh in state last year at 112
125: Julian Romero, who competed at 119 last season and finished second at the state tournament.
140: Ralph Osorio. According to Cerna, Osorio was a strong contender at Regionals in 2009 in a weight class that was loaded with talent. Cerna expects the senior to make a strong showing this weekend. Joining Osorio at 140  is George Pech, also a senior. Cerna expects both Osorio and Pech to make a strong showing in the very competitive weight class.
171: Nick Alvarado: The junior was a state contender in 2009. Cerna said he and teammate Andres Chavez, a senior will both be strong in their division.
285: Luis Rodriguez. Cerna said the senior fought through a tough weight class as a junior but has been wrestling strong at the end of the season and his experience will give him an advantage in the post-season action.
Cerna expressed great appreciation for the awesome Toppenish fan support.
“We have had consistent fan base throughout the season,” he said. “Our fans are great.”
Toppenish’s last state wrestling title was 1998 – Cerna was a member of that team which took four state titles and three members of the championship team placed second.