The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

PRESCOTT - The Waits­burg Prescott wrestling team opened their season with the Liberty Invite in Richland on Dec. 14, and their first league meet at Tri-Cities Prep on Dec. 17.

WP's David Just (126 lbs.) took third place at Liberty; his only loss was to returning state champion Kain Feltwell from Liberty. But a mistake cost him his second match at the Dec. 17 TCP meet.

Just, described by Coach Lanny Adams as a "very technical wrestler," won his first match against White Swan's Oscar Ponce, pin­ning him in 46 seconds in the first round. In his second match, against Jesus Ramos of Kamiakin, Just acknowl­edged getting too high on the body when he was at­tempting to sink an arm bar and Ramos took advantage of the mistake by turning on him.

"I don't think he will make that mistake again," said Adams. Just was pinned in 2:35 in the 2nd round.

Kavin Kuykendall (145 lbs.) had some tough match­es at the Liberty Invite and "wrestled tough," accord­ing to Adams. Kuykendall advanced through the first round, but lost his second match and went into the con­solation bracket. He came back to win his third match, but was eliminated from the tournament in his fourth.

At the TCP meet Kuyk­endall pinned Bryson Davis of Columbia-Burbank in 1:20 in the first round. He lost his second round to Reg­gie Jones of Colfax; pinned in 3:02 in the second round.

"Kavin's biggest battle for him so far this year is his weight management," said Adams. "He is right on the cusp of getting it down, but that last .7 pounds has been tough. I think once he is able to get that down he will sta­bilize and go far."

Tyler Brooks (160 lbs.) had some tough matches at Liberty and used more muscle than technique, which cost him his matches. "I think once he learns to wrestle smarter, not harder, and starts using the moves he knows, he'll have a suc­cessful season," said Adams.

At TCP Brooks was pinned in 1:09 in the first round by Kevin Knauff of Garfield-Palouse and lost to Joseph Hernandez in a 7-0 Decision.

DJ Lalka (182 lbs) wres­tled his first match ever, at the Liberty Invite. Accord­ing to Adams, the entire gym went quiet when the single leg amputee took that first hop onto the mat. "When the referee blew the whistle, DJ shot in on his opponent and attempted a single leg takedown," said Adams. Though Lalka ended up get­ting pinned early in the fist round, his opponent helped him to his foot and the entire gym began clapping.

"I don't think there was a dry eye on any of our team members or in our support­ers that traveled up to Lib­erty," said Adams.

The scenario was simi­lar at the TCP meet where wrestlers shook his hand and expressed how they were inspired by him, impressed he would attempt the sport or just saying they were happy he was on the mat. Lalka wrested hard in both of his matches but fell in the third round of each. Brian Deyoung of Colfax pinned him in 5:30 and Jose Solorio of Kamiakin pinned him in 4:45.

Adams said that a Ki­amiakin coach summed it up best when he said, "this is one of the few sports where someone with a disability is on an even playing field with his opponent. They take that disability and turn it into a capability."

"It has been awesome to watch his self-confidence and esteem grow," said Ad­ams. "With only one month into our season and a couple more months to go, I can't wait to watch DJ improve."

EJ Oppelt (195 lbs) also competed in his first match at the Liberty Invite. "He's a first-year wrestler that made some mistakes, but is always listening to the coaches and other teammates and trying to improve his game. I think that once he finds his bal­ance point and learns a few more moves, he will have a successful season," said Adams.

At the TCP meet Oppelt lost his first match to Everett Stevenson of Pomeroy. He was pinned by Evan Lord of Colfax in 0:44 in the first round of his second match.

Tyler Hoffman only got two matches at Liberty, where he made a few mis­takes. "I can tell he's listen­ing and trying to do what we tell him," said Adams. "We videotaped one of his match­es and showed him what we were seeing and it puts things in a different perspec­tive for him. We have some habits to break and I think that once we break through those habits, he will also have a successful season."

Hoffman won his first round at TCP, pinning Gio Rojas of White Swan in 1:01 in the first round. In match two he was pinned by Evan Lord of Colfax in 2:25 in the second round.

Senior WP wrestler Kavin Kuykendall pins Bryson Davis of Columbia-Burbank in a winning match at the Tri-Cities Prep meet on Dec. 17.

Tristan Newman (285 lbs) didn't have a lot of com­petition at the Liberty Invite, but wrestled smart and tried some new moves. Adams said that Newman has set his goal to be on the top of the podium at the state tourna­ment this year.

Newman won both his TCP matches in the first round, pinning Salvador Esquievel of White Swan in 1:34 and Nic McAdams of Colfax in 1:07.

"I have reminded him many times not to get too cocky out there," said Ad­ams. "Just because you beat someone once doesn't mean that you are guaranteed to beat him again. The op­ponent will be coming after twice as hard next time and Tristan needs to stay on top of his game. I think he has taken that advice to heart by his willingness to step out of his comfort zone and try new moves. He is attempting to shoot single and double legs along with some low throws that typically is not done by the upper class weights."

WP will be wrestling next at a Pomeroy Invite on Dec. 27. The second of their three league meets will take place in Colfax on Jan. 16.