Lake Roosevelt Raider wrestlers participated in the Oroville Mix & Match as well as the Cashmere Invite this past week.

Four Raider wrestlers travelled to Oroville for the mix & match last Wednesday, wrestling eight matches total, winning four and losing four.

Raider Kaleb Horn dominated his two match-ups, winning by technical falls, or a large point margin, 18-1 against Oroville’s Michael Lewis, and 17-1 against Tonasket’s Israel Gomez, both in just the second round.

Raider Ryan Moon pinned Tonasket’s Tudor C. in three minutes and nine seconds, but lost to Tonasket’s Chris Rivera in the first round. Raider Jon Shelley won 10-1 against Tonasket’s Blaze Wallis before narrowly losing, 13-11, to Reilan Bretz of Tonasket. Raider Gabe Moses had three takedowns but was unable to win his matchups.

On Saturday, five Raider wrestlers travelled to Cashmere to compete among 12 schools. Lake Roosevelt’s five wrestlers scored 100 points, placing seventh. This is compared to Cashmere’s 16 wrestlers scoring 94.5 points. Chelan, which won the competition, had 200 points with 22 wrestlers.

All five Raider wrestlers placed, with Matthew Pakootas placing first in the 138-pound division, Kaleb Horn ranking second at 120, Tony Nichols placing second at 145, Jon Shelley placing third at 126, and Steven Flowers placing fourth at 195.

Eastmont’s Isai Saurez and La Center’s Robel Grove both fell to Horn, who was defeated by Warden’s Anthony Martinez in the final round. Martinez was ranked second in the state last year.

Raider Jon Shelley went into overtime in his final match against La Center’s Corey Huddleston. Tied at 8-8, Shelley got a takedown to win the match and secure a third-place spot.

“We like winning those overtime matches,” said Raider Head Coach Steve Hood.

Pakootas won his first two matchups by major decision before narrowly defeating Omak’s Dallas Joe 7-6 for the first-place spot. “Mathew had a good day. He wrestled well against good competition,” Hood said.

Tony Nichols secured a second-place spot, winning his first two bouts by major decision before losing 7-5 against Chelan’s Juan Del Cruz, a state 1A placer last year.

“If the two of them wrestled on another day, it could have come out another way,” Hood said.

Steven Flowers was 3-2 for the day and earned a fourth-place spot.

“The guys we take are quality wrestlers,” Hood said. “Cashmere is a bigger 1A school, and they want 1A-type competition, and they continue to invite us because we bring good competition. And it’s good for us because we want to wrestle tough opponents all season long to get ready for postseason.”

The coach remarked that more wrestlers would have attended but were unable to due to illness, which he says is affecting a lot of schools.

The Raiders will participate in the Banks Lake Brawl tonight (Wednesday) at 6 p.m. at Almira-Coulee-Hartline High School in Coulee City.