State wrestling: Warden ends Zillah streak
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TACOMA — Zillah's run of three straight state wrestling championships finally ended, but not without a serious fight.
Rising up at the Tacoma Dome like the program has done so many times before, the Leopards threatened season-long No. 1 Warden late into the finals before yielding, 140 to 132½, yesterday in the Class 1A/B state tournament.
Of Zillah's 11 qualifiers, six placed in the top four.
"We expect that of each other, to compete hard here and have our best matches of the season," said Zillah sophomore Ricky Valadez, a state champion at 101 pounds and whose brother Armando Valadez won state titles in 1998 and 2001.
Ben Sevigny won at 189 pounds for Zillah, giving Zillah its ninth individual championship in the last three seasons.
Connell won the Class 2A state title and Lakeside of Nine Mile falls finished second.