SPOKANE – The Hermiston wrestling squad made its presence known Friday at the Inland Empire wrestling tournament at Central Valley High School, bringing in a first-place team score of 87.5 after two rounds.

Ben Jorgenson (103 pounds), Brent Parks (140), Ethan Parks (145), Ryan Barton (152), Randy Larson (160), Kevin Verwey (171), Troy Kessell (215), Garrett Later (285) and Josh Barraza (285) each went 2-0 in the opening rounds and hope to make their way into today’s championship matches.

Chase Winters (119), Dylan Olsen (125), Brandon Adolf (130), A.J. Almaguer (135) and Derek Harmon (189) each finished 1-1, while Brad Thomas (125) was 0-2.

The individual tournament features 18 schools from Washington and Idaho along with Hermiston, and Hermiston coach Curt Berger said it’s a good opportunity for the Bulldogs to gauge their progress so far.

“It’s still early, but I thought we looked good,” he said. “The true test will be in the semifinals (today) – that’s where the big points are.”

This is the second year Hermiston has traveled to the event, and Berger is pleased with the level of competition and response from his wrestlers.

“This is a real good tournament with good teams and good programs,” he said. “We’re hoping each week gets tougher, because that’s what we need. It’s a great training ground for us.”