Sweet Home’s boys held their own against some big-time competition Friday and Saturday, Dec. 9-10, at the Rose City Championship wrestling tournament hosted by Westview High School in Portland.
So did the girls, finishing second to defending champion Thurston by two points.
Boys Third at Rose City
The boys tournament featured 27 teams from throughout the Northwest and California.
Nampa, Idaho, placed first with 450 points, followed by Newberg (403) and Sweet Home (273). Dallas was fourth (269) and Thurston fifth (265), with Sumner Wash. Sixth (263).
Coach Steve Thorpe noted that the Rose City tournament become one of the toughest competitions in the Pacific Northwest.
“We had the Idaho state champs, the 6A state champ, numerous trophying teams,” he said, adding that the Huskies were “pretty proud” of their finish against that competition, particularly as one of the smaller schools in the tournament.
Senior Ethan Spencer led the Huskies with an individual championship at 182 pounds,
pinning his way through the quarterfinals and then decisioning Cole Langford of Dallas 11-5 in the semis, before beating Matt King of Sumner 13-9 in the final.
“Ethan had a great tournament,” Thorpe said. “He wrestled his guts out. He had a barnburner of a semifinals match, and then in the final, after getting taken down, he never looked back. He finished the match with that guy on his back, just getting points.”
Senior Kaden Zajic was fourth at 170 pounds, also pinning his way through to the semis, where he lost to Liam Byrne of Mountain View. Zajic then decisioned Thurston’s Sawyer Casarez 8-5, then lost to Newberg’s Cougar Friesen in the third-place match.
Seven Huskies placed sixth: freshman Tytus Hardee at 113, junior Jayce Miller at 120, junior Kyle Sieminski at 120, senior Jacob Sieminski at 132, sophomore Jacob Landtroop at 138, senior Trenton Smith at 152 and junior David Steagall at 195.
Thorpe noted that Kyle Sieminski and Miller essentially tied for fifth, but he didn’t want them wrestling each other so they defaulted in their last match, as did Jake Sieminski and Hardee.
Sieminski, Thorpe said, wrestled in the toughest weight division of all, with five state champions and multiple state placewinners.
But it was a team effort, he said.
“We had a lot of kids win matches they shouldn’t and to have 14 guys get to Day 2, that’s our goal. Not everybody places, but their contributions to the team scores helps out.”
Girls Second in War of the Roses
Freshman Bailey Chafin was the top finisher for Sweet Home, taking the 130-pound championship to lead the girls to 149 points, two behind Thurston. Union, Wash., was third, with 119, and Walnut, Calif., was fourth (118), followed by Dallas (116) in fifth.
Thurston had 23 wrestlers on the mats, to Sweet Home’s 13.
Thorpe said all the preparation Chafin has put in over the years as a youth wrestler is paying off.
“All the wrestling she’s done, all the coaching she’s gotten, the opportunities her parents provide her – it’s incredible.”
Seven other Huskies also placed: Kaylene Zajic was runner-up at 140, losing to Thurston’s Kristal Zamora; Kendra Jamison was third at 105, and Zoey Erevia third at 125; Kelsie Rush was fourth at 110, Lydia Wright was fourth at 135, and Alyssa Peterson was fourth at 155; and Emma Pangle was fifth at 190.
“What was a takeaway for me was how many of our girls placed,” Thorpe said. “They competed. After a loss they came back to get a win. That was really impressive to me.”
Zajic, he noted, was ahead of Zamora, “one of Thurston’s top kids,” in the third round when she got turned and pinned.
He said the reason why the Huskies compete at such tournaments is to identify areas in which they need to improve.
“This success is not an accident,” he said.
The Huskies will host South Albany, Stayton, Cascade, Elmira and Newport this Thursday, Dec. 15, beginning at 3:30 p.m. They will compete Saturday at the Thurston Duals, starting at 9 a.m.