TOPPENISH — Ephrata's Colt Staples, in the 165-pound weight class, and Payton Woods (215) claimed individual championships over the weekend at the District 5 Class 2A boys wrestling tournament.

They now advance to Mat Classic XXXVII at the Tacoma Dome on Feb. 20-21. Staples and Woods will be joined by four other Tiger teammates who also qualified at district for the state tourney — Louden Leenhouts (106), Carter Garcia (150), Adrian Negrete (157), and Daron Hernandez (215). Also qualifying as alternates are Kylan Lus (132) and Danny Wurl (190).

Toppenish hosted the two-day district tournament Friday and Saturday and went on to capture the team title with 325.5 points, followed by Ellensburg (290) and Othello (275.5). Ephrata compiled 174.5 points to finish sixth in the competitive Central Washington Athletic Conference team scoring.

Staples, who entered district as the top seed at 165, steamrolled through his first three matches with a 13-0 fall (2:28), a 17-2 technical fall and a 13-0 (3:19) fall before running into a battle in the championship match against Prosser's third-seeded Clay Steven Crow.

Crow jumped ahead early with a takedown and nearfall, and both wrestlers were hit with penalties. Staples trailed heading into the final seconds of the first period, but scored on a late reversal. Crow added a nearfall in the second and led 10-7 heading into the third. Ten seconds into the final period, Crow pushed the lead to 13-7 with a takedown. Staples answered with seven straight points, forcing a head-and-arm for a nearfall to take a 15-13 lead, then turning Crow for the pin with time running out.

"That kid never quits," Ephrata head coach Joe Knox said of Staples after the thrilling match. "Super tough."

Woods went 3-0 in the 215 bracket, opening with a 5-0 decision over Toppenish's Froilan Loza, rolling to a 10-1 major decision over Ellensburg's Wyatt Jenks and closing with a 20-2 tech fall over fifth-seeded Korbyn Hopwood of Prosser in the championship match.

Woods entered as the No. 2 seed behind rival Quincy's Alejandro Barajas. But Barajas never made the finals after falling by pin to Hopwood in the third period of their semifinal matchup.

"Payton wrestled as well and as free as I have ever seen," commended Knox. "He just let it rip."

State qualifiers

No. 2 seed Louden Leenhouts took third at 106 pounds, going 3-1. His only loss was a 4-3 decision to Ellensburg's Kyler Mays. Mays and Leenhouts faced off twice this season, splitting results. Leenhouts won 1-0 in a December dual before Mays rolled to an 11-3 major decision at the Mat Animal Invite in January. 

In their district semifinal matchup, Leenhouts led 3-0 on a first-period takedown before Mays answered with a third-period four-point nearfall to steal it. Leenhouts rallied from that loss with a 7-2 decision over Toppenish's Elijah Rios and a 7-0 shutout of Selah's Cash Burton to clinch the bronze.

At 157, Adrian Negrete went 4-1 on the weekend, placing third. Negrete won all four matches with pins. His only loss came to Toppenish's Ruben Rios, who pinned him at 1:00. Negrete's first-round win came against Ephrata teammate Jose Rodriguez.

Knox said both Leenhouts and Negrete "looked really sharp" and bounced back well after tough semifinal losses.

Fourth-seeded Carter Garcia fought through five matches to place fifth at 150. Garcia trailed 13th-seeded Francisco Magana of Quincy 2-0 in the opener before pinning him at 2:16, then beat Selah's Carter Collins 5-2 in the quarterfinals. In back-to-back losses, top-seeded Isaiah Rios of Toppenish pinned Garcia in the semis, and Othello's Isaac Roylance knocked him out of medal contention with a 5-1 decision. Garcia faced Collins again in the fifth-place match, pinning him in 1:53 to punch his ticket to state.

Daron Hernandez, who wrestled at 285 all season, dropped to 215 for the district meet. Hernandez, seeded fourth, went 3-2 in his matches to place fifth and earn Ephrata's final state berth. Prosser’s Hopwood pinned him in 49 seconds in the quarterfinals, but Hernandez fought back through the consolation bracket with a 15-10 decision over Toppenish's Alberto Valencia and a 1:45 fall over Ellensburg's Rian Baker. After Ellensburg's Wyatt Jenks pinned him in the consolation semis, Hernandez closed with a 1-0 decision over Toppenish's Froilan Loza in the fifth-place match.

But after battling through district competition, Hernandez suffered a serious ankle injury in practice Monday that has sidelined him for the post-season. He will not compete at Mat Classic.

"It's not broken, but he is done for now," Knox said. "Really disappointed for him."

Danny Wurl (190, 6th) and Kylan Lus (132, 6th) each earned alternate spots.

Wurl opened strong with a 38-second pin and a 12-4 major decision before dropping three straight, including a 1-1 match against Toppenish's Vicente Pinon that went to sudden victory, where Pinon scored a takedown at the 54-second mark to end it.

Lus opened with back-to-back wins, including a quarterfinal upset over Ellensburg's Peyton Disch with a come-from-behind fall, trailing 3-9 before pinning Disch at 5:30. Lus then ran into Ellensburg's Cash Eylar and Toppenish's Jayden Gatica, both losses coming by technical fall. In a final round rematch with Disch, and the final state ticket on the line, Lus fell in a 9-0 major decision.

Looking ahead to this weekend’s Mat Classic matchups in Tacoma:

Three of Ephrata's five state qualifiers are making their first trip to the Tacoma Dome. Seniors Woods and Garcia are the only returners.

Freshmen Staples and Leenhouts and junior Negrete will make their state debuts. Knox's message to them is simple.

"Try not to stare at the brackets," Knox said. "Control what we can control. Focus on our preparation and trying to win the match that is in front of us."

Staples enters the state tournament as the Tigers’ highest-seeded wrestler at No. 2 in the 165 bracket. On Friday, he opens against 31st-seeded Carson Daily of Sultan.

Woods is seeded fifth at 215 and faces 28th-seeded Teddy Sheppard of Tumwater.

Leenhouts, seeded 11th, drew 22nd-seeded Antonio Hernandez of Tumwater in the first round at 106.

Seeded 27th, Negrete faces a tough opener at 157 against sixth-seeded Marcellus Arevalo of Woodland.

Garcia is seeded 24th at 150 and opens against ninth-seeded Toby Li of Cleveland.

Other Ephrata results

Several Tigers didn't place at district but turned in notable performances.

Isaac Barajas (144) rallied from a 10-3 deficit to pin Toppenish's Ayden Garcia at 3:31. Ivan Perez-Chavez (190) was trailing 12-10 when he pinned Ellensburg's Cash Calhoun at 4:59.

Austin Smith (175) went 2-2 at the tourney with a major decision and a fall. Nathan Sandoval (120) opened with a 10-2 major decision before bowing out. Caleb Schooler (113) split two matches.