Among the 130-some wrestlers who showed up for the 13th annual Santiam Wrestling Camp last week at Sweet Home High School were a team of top wrestlers from Saskachewan, Canada, and another featuring some of the best wrestlers in South Africa.
Coach Steve Thorpe, one of the camp’s three directors, organized dual matches with both the visiting teams on Wednesday, the final day.
“They traveled here for a wrestling experience, not a vacation,” he said, noting that many of the visitors matched up very competitively with the U.S. wrestlers in the camp. All of the South African team members, including two girls, were national champions and some were continental – all-Africa –winners.
In addition to wrestling, the youngsters went on training runs through Sweet Home and found their ways to local hotspots – Safeway, Thriftway, McDonald’s, All Star Pizza, Dairy Queen, A&W and many more, Thorpe said.
“Sweet Home just opened up to these wrestlers,” he said. “It was really neat. They could tell this was a wrestling town.”
The South African team is training for the junior world championships, and Thorpe said some of the wrestlers in Sweet Home are good bets to be chosen for that team.
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Brothers Colton (126 pounds) and Tyler (113) are returning to Fargo, N.D. this weekend for the ASICS Junior National Tournament. Tyler Schilling placed fifth in Greco last year, gaining All-American honors. Live scores can be viewed at trackwrestling.com and live streaming video can be viewed at themat.com under the Events button.