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District takedown

Ybarra, Horning lead Jacks into District Championships

Kurtis J. Wood/Post-Register Sports
Feb. 04, 2010

Manny Ybarra had quite a run during his sophomore campaign last year when he made the state wrestling finals at 135 pounds, but during that run he made an important realization.

He is good, but not great.

Ybarra was good enough to defeat Rueben Lopez, his nemesis from Othello, on his third attempt in the state semifinals and punched his ticket into the WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington/Les Schwab Tires State 2A Wrestling Championships finals. He drew defending champion Daniel McElhaney of Washougal, who brought with him a perfect 32-0 season record and a career record of 106-17. Ybarra came in with a career record of 63-18, but McElhaney had two years of experience over him and made the decision to cut more than 15 pounds throughout the season.

“Last year in the finals match, I could tell he was cutting weight,” Ybarra said. “I wasn’t really cutting weight and he’s the state champ.”

He noticed the size difference right away. Ybarra, who was usually the stronger wrestler on the mat, appeared to be 15 percent smaller than McElhaney. So this season, Ybarra dropped five pounds and will enter the postseason at 130 pounds, the same weight he wrestled at his freshman year

“At 135, I eat normal, but at 130 I have to watch what I eat a little. It’s a good wrestling weight for me,” Ybarra said. “I’m more agile. I’m lightweight. I feel better.”

At first glance, five pounds doesn’t seem like much, but in the wrestling world it can be a huge difference. Point in fact: he leads the Jacks with 57 takedowns this season.

“For Manny, he did it over a season,” said Quincy coach Greg Martinez. “It was a nice long, slow cut like it’s supposed to be done. He will be just as strong at 130 as he was at 135. And the advantage is kids at 130 are not as strong as kids at 135. Five pounds can make a huge difference.”

Ybarra enters this weekend’s district championships in Ellensburg as the top seed at 130 pounds. He carries a 25-1 record, with his only loss coming at 135 pounds to Mason Yates. Yates stayed at 135, so a rematch will not happen this season, even though Ybarra admits he would like a chance to redeem himself. But in the grand scheme of things, beating Yates is not part of Ybarra’s goal for the next several weeks.

“My goal is not to get him back, but to go forward and be state champ,” Ybarra said.

That goal starts Friday when he faces freshman Chet Bardwell of Grandview in the first round. Ybarra is the type of competitor who stays the course, and in this case the course is one opponent at a time. All he knew about the district bracket going in was he was a top seed and he wrestles Bardwell.

“I have Grandview first off, and that’s pretty much about it,” he said. “I take one match at a time and focus on that.”

Ben Horning wasn’t the subject of that intense focus this season. He quietly accrued eight league wins versus just one loss and compiled a 16-9 record. His tournament record was not impressive, but he seemed to draw the eventual champions more often than not. But he was rewarded with a top seed at 152 pounds and awaits the winner of East Valley’s Joan Uribe and Prosser’s Andrew Cox in a pigtail match to decide his first round opponent.

“When we were going through that last night, none of us had any idea that he was 8-1 in league,” Martinez said. “He had some tough tournaments, but 8-1 in league is huge.”

Horning is a worker — a worker with a motor that just won’t quit. He displayed that against Othello several weeks ago. Trailing through the first seven minutes of his match against Eddie Garza, Horning nabbed an escape in the final 20 seconds and followed that with a takedown and back points for a 6-1 lead.

“The biggest thing with Ben is he is in fantastic physical shape and he has the ability to win close matches. He had the ability against Othello, where he was behind 1-0 the whole match and then put the guy to his back to win the match,” Martinez said. “He just wants it. He just want to win.”

Another key to Horning’s success is his ability to get takedowns — he is second on the team with 38. He figured out shooting is key at the end of last season.

“At the end of last year he had a couple of matches, where he was getting alot of takedowns and one of the younger kids asked, ‘How do you do it, how do you get so many takedowns?’” Martinez remembers. “He said, ‘You just have to shoot. I hated shooting, because I used to get taken down. But I practiced and now when I shoot I can take them down.’”

The Jacks also have four more top-four seeds entering this weekend, led by team leader Breck Webley at 160 pounds. He is joined by Baldo Valdovinos at 189 pounds, Daniel Herrera at 215 pounds and Marcus Medina at 285 pounds.

Webley enters his final district tournament with a 5-4 league record. He bounced between 160 and 171 pounds, but opted to go the rest of the season at 160 pounds. He also carried a 19-10 overall record.

“His record does not do him justice,” Martinez said. “He’s been wrestling up to help the team. He made 160 in the middle of December and wrestled the whole month of January at 171. The kids he’s lost to are good kids. Tyler Noble will probably be at state. I don’t think he’s lost to anyone that’s not a state caliber wrestler. He’s really having a good year. It just doesn’t show it in the stats.”

There are a few stats where you can see Webley is a contender – he’s third on the team in takedowns (28), first in nearfalls (23) and first in pins (13).

“His wrestling has changed,” Martinez said. “He’s a little more aggressive on his feet, he’s got a little more scramble ability than last year.”

In the past Webley’s weakness has been stamina. The third period has been his demise, but this season he has put more effort in his training outside the wrestling room.

“He actually started running in the morning two weeks ahead of schedule,” Martinez said. “They were going to start running in the morning and I did not share that with them and he had already started. If Breck puts together a good a tournament he could be in the finals, which would be nice, giving him a good seeding going into regionals. Districts, in the grand scheme of things, he needs to just get through. He’s done everything he needs to do.”

His first opponent is freshmen Andrew Au of Selah.

Webley showed maturity by taking over the role of team leader. With 10 losses under his belt, he has had plenty to grumble about, but he puts that aside during duels and tournaments to put his teammates first.

“Breck is my leader. He is the leader of the team and he practices what he preaches,” Martinez said. “I heard him tell the kids if you come off the mat with a loss, you can go be angry and then you know what you need to do, get back and support your teammates. He does that. He will come off the mat fuming mad where you don’t want to talk to him. He will go collect his thoughts and then he will be back on the bench cheering his teammates. He’s just that good of a kid.”

Valdovinos is 6-1 in league and 9-2 overall. His limited mat time is due to three different injuries over the past two years. He entered the season with a shoulder injury from last year, had a knee injury since the start of the season and added a chest injury during the season. It is safe to say he is banged up, but he still managed a solid league record and eight pins out of 11 matches.

“Really, with him it has been doing our best to get him mat time and keep him healthy. It is no good if you hurt yourself in December and can’t wrestle the rest of the season,” Martinez said. “He’s not at 100 percent, but good enough to go. From this point on, there is no point nursing anything. It’s going to be a mental fight.”

Valdovinos opens the tournament against Ephrata sophomore Erik Guzman.

Herrera gets a first-round bye and will face Selah’s Pedro Recondo in the quarterfinals, while Medina has the same deal. He will take his first-round bye into the quarterfinals, where he will face Ellensburg’s Matt Shields. Medina sports a 4-2 league record and a 10-6 overall record. He also has had a few injuries this season (shoulder, knee, ankle), but has a goal to keep his mind on track. He wants a rematch with East Valley’s Joey Sparks – a wrestler that assistant coach Arnold Ybarra says is a “driving force” for Medina.

“He’s got a big match he wants to avenge and hopes he can make up for against East Valley,” Martinez said. “He was tied in overtime and took an ugly superman shot and the kid got a takedown, so he’s got that he’s working for.”

Sparks is in the other half of the bracket, so a rematch would only be in the finals or the bout for third and fourth place.

“He can be a surprise. I can see him getting into regionals. I can see him surprising some people,” Martinez said.

The top seven move on to regionals.

The Jacks also will be sending:

103: Christian Alejandrez (14-13), Gabe Martinez (JV, 12-12) 112: Hector Avalos (5-11). 119: Justin Clifton (10-14), Uriel Heras (16-9). 125:Gerardo Guzman (2-10), 130: Garrett O’Shaughnessy (JV, 6-8). 135-Gabe Herrera (4-5), Jesus Chavarin (7-8). 145: Jordan Medrano (8-7). 160: Keaton Webley (9-12). 189: Mario Alcarez (3-13).