It wasn’t the team championship that Sweet Home has enjoyed in the recent past, but Coach Steve Thorpe was pretty happy this week with his team’s performance at Reser’s Tournament of Champions, one of the elite wrestling tournaments in the state.
The Huskies placed 16th out of 24 teams in the varsity competition, entering only eight wrestlers, two of whom placed. Crook County, which entered 14 varsity wrestlers, won both the varsity and junior varsity tournaments, beating Roseburg and a slew of top 6A and 5A teams. Cascade, the other 4A school in the tournament, finished 20th.
“I held some out due to finals, illness and injuries,” Coach Steve Thorpe said of the Huskies’ spotty representation. “Some kids couldn’t miss their finals.”
Junior Ty Schilling won the 120-pound championship after placing third last year, and junior Anthony Hardee was fifth.
Schilling beat top-ranked Kurt Mode from Crook County 8-6 in the 120-pound finals.
“They have an incredible group of kids coming through right now,” Thorpe said of Crook County, the top-ranked team in the state by pollsters, which had four individual champions at Resers.
At 126 pounds, Anthony Hardee lost his first match 4-0 to Crook County’s Brent Bannon but won his next four in the consolation bracket before losing 4-0 to No. 2-seeded Tyler Thomas of Grants Pass, then beating Saxton Schaffner of Culver 12-6 in the fifth-place match.
Though he didn’t place, freshman Kobe Olson came within one match of a medal. Olson lost to eventual champ Cody Bibler of Dallas, a senior, by technical fall in his first match, then won his next two matches before falling to Gus Warren of Canby in the consolation quarterfinals.
“Kobe Olsen didn’t place but, my goodness, he was right in it,” Thorpe said. “The only two guys who beat him were guys who got fourth and first. Those were his two losses. For him to do that, to be one match away from placing, is quite an accomplishment at 103 pounds.”
Aaron Blanchard won the 103-pound championship in the JV tournament, pinning all four of his opponents, including “a very good kid in the finals,” Thorpe said. The Huskies were eighth overall in the team standings.
Freshman Tyler Fincher was sixth at 113 pounds.
“He came through to beat a couple of kids that he probably shouldn’t have beat on paper,” Thorpe said.
“We didn’t go in there with the expectation of winning (the tournament) and that allowed us to change our focus to individual strengths. I was proud of our guys, how hard they competed on the mat. It was good to see, guys competing the way they were. That’s what it’s about, going out there and competing and doing your best every time you step on the mat, win or lose.”
Jake Porter was fifth at 138, which Thorpe termed “incredible, as a freshman” in that weight division.
“Jake wrestled very hard the entire tournament,” he said.
Senior Spencer Knight, who joined the team for the first time in high school this year, was sixth at 182.
“He did what he needed to do,” Thorpe said. “He didn’t even have to come out. I’m proud of him.”
Senior Ian Search was fifth at 195, after breaking his nose 30 seconds into his semifinal match. Coaches found a mask for him and he went on, though he lost 9-2 to Glencoe’s Daniel Hernandez, then lost his consolation semifinals bout. But he finished with a 7-2 win over David Douglas’ John Ashe.
“I’m so very very proud of him and leadership he showed by example, being tougher when he was injured,” Thorpe said.
“We just competed well. I was happy. We’ve got a long way to go on some things. I’m far from being satisfied, but I’m proud of guys, on how they competed. It was the right time to show up and do that.”
The Huskies travel to Elmira Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. dual, then will visit Central Feb. 6 before hosting Cascade Feb. 13.