Scott Swanson
Scottie Stockman signed a letter of intent last week to wrestle for Southern Oregon University.
Stockman signed on the the dotted line in a ceremony in the Sweet Home High School Library Tuesday, May 22, flanked by his father, Scott Stockman Sr., SOU coach Mike Ritchey and Sweet Home Coach Steve Thorpe.
Stockman, a three-time state wrestling place-winner for Sweet Home, also has played football for four years and has pole vaulted the last two for the track and field team, adding the 400 meters to his repertoire this year. He was a major contributor to getting the Huskies 4×400 relay team into the state championships this year with his performance at the district meet.
Stockman will join Brock Crocker as Sweet Home alumni who are currently wrestling for the Raiders, and he’s the fifth Husky to sign with SOU, following Andrew Swanson, Kyle Rose, Tomas Rosa and Crocker.
He said that was one of the reasons why he chose Southern Oregon, “because it’s become a tradition for Sweet Home and Southern Oregon to have a wrestler there.”
Stockman said he started thinking about wrestling at SOU as a junior after getting some interest from the Raiders coaches through Thorpe.
“He keeps the string alive for us,” Thorpe said. “I’m very excited for Scottie. I’m excited to see him still excited about wrestling, enough to go on.”
Ritchey said he liked the commitment Stockman has shown to the sport, competing in off-season freestyle and Greco tournaments and camps.
“Scottie has put in the work,” he said. “He’s a great student athlete. He knows what it takes to succeed at this level.”
Thorpe agreed.
“This is the payoff,” he said. “Scottie’s done all the camps, all the freestyle and Greco, all the travel. Now he gets to compete at the next level. There’s going to be a big difference. Every kid in college was one of the best on the team in high school.”
Ritchey told the crowd of Husky wrestlers, teachers and students Tuesday that he likes to recruit in Sweet Home.
“There’s a great work ethic here, a great program. Those are the kind of guys I like to commit to. This is a wrestling community. Those are things that carry over very well in our university.”
Stockman said he plans to major in English and become a teacher.
Southern Oregon, which Thorpe described as an “elite” program at the NAIA level, has won two national championships under Ritchey, who himself was a four-year All-American for the Raiders. SOU finished second at the national NAIA tournament this year, its second runner-up finish in the past four years, with three individual champions and six total All-Americans. Former Roseburg wrestler Mitchell Lofstedt (125) won his second national title, while Brock Gutches (174, Crater) and Austin Vanderford (184, Ninilchik, Alaska) were the Raiders’ other titlists.
Thorpe said he hopes the community realizes what is happening when a local athlete moves on to compete in college.
“This is not just a game. This is an opportunity. The time and effort we coaches put in is not just to get a mark in the win column.
“I’ve sent a lot of wrestlers to college and they are giving back to the program. You can have a cycle of mediocrity, but the cycle we have is coaches working to create opportunities for kids.
“My work with Scottie is done but the relationship doesn’t end there.”