Tigers prepared to overcome league rivals

Nov. 25—EPHRATA — The Ephrata Tigers wrestling team is preparing to build off their returning young team from last season and strive for greater postseason success. The Tigers will once again face a tough Central Washington Athletic Conference as they push to distinguish themselves.

"We had a decent season (last year), and we were just about a .500 team," said Tigers boys Head Coach Joe Knox. "We're building a program."

Last season, the Tigers had multiple players on both the boys and girls teams making the state tournament. The girls team ended up taking nine athletes to state after placing in the top ten in districts, said Tigers girls Head Coach Raul Tejeda.

"We still have a lot of those returning placers this year, and I'm just looking for a good year," said Tejeda.

In the offseason the Tigers graduated two boys and eight girls but will be returning a sizeable team of seniors with the boys coming back with two and the girls returning 15.

Knox said the boys experienced some injury in the offseason that stopped some of the older players from returning but is still confident in senior returners 215-pound Peyton Woods and 165-pound Carter Garcia, who are both state veterans.

The Tigers girls will be returning seniors Adylene Sanchez, Alexandra Estrada Rangel, Kashlynn Cobb, Rayn Castillo and Carolina Monico, who all made state last season and are on track to be powerhouses again this season.

"Some of those seniors that are leaving have been there for the four years, so it's just going to be a good legacy of working hard and hopefully place a little higher at state," said Tejeda.

The main goal for the wrestling team this season is to just have continuous improvement and focus on controlling what is within their own hands, said Knox. For the boys early season practices are focused on improving all aspects of wrestling such as the technical aspects and conditioning.

He said that it will be important for the team to keep a positive mindset as the season progresses and to turn challenges into opportunities for growth.

"I think every wrestling season poses its unique set of challenges whether it's kids getting sick or injured or just burned out during the middle of the season," said Knox. "We all go through that, and you navigate it as best as you can."

The Tigers girls are preparing for the season by starting off right where they left themselves last season and trying to build up to where they need to be. Tejeda said he will be making small changes to how they prepare with additions like a nutritionist to give an alternate perspective to that aspect of the sport from someone outside of the coaches.

Knox said he's looking forward to seeing the development of the younger wrestlers this season and seeing what the returning juniors and seniors can do with their remaining time on the team.

"We're going to be really trying to lay a foundation for future seasons at this point," he said.

The Tigers will be setting themselves up this season to try and overcome rivals like Toppenish who provided the league with quite the challenge last year. Tejeda said he is excited to see how much the seniors can accomplish.

"I'm kind of looking forward for those girls to leave a good impression and leading a good culture," he said. "Overall, I think this is going to be a good year especially with all those seniors."

The Tigers boys first meet of the season will be 5 p.m. Dec. 2 at Moses Lake High School and the girls will travel to Prosser on Dec. 4 at 6:30 p.m.