By Ryker Burr
For The New Era
Sweet Home’s boys and girls both took home the crown at the Linn Country Championships wrestling tournament, held Friday, Jan. 2, at Central Linn High School, while Lebanon’s boys finished fourth and a depleted girls team sixth.
Sweet Home scored 291.5 points without defending state champion Tytus Hardee, which was good enough to best second-place Harrisburg (251.5), and bronze-medalist West Albany (241.5).
Heavyweight Lynkin Royer won the final match of the day for the Huskies, pinning runner-up Riley Harmon from Scio in 49 seconds.
“He’s not wrestling like a heavyweight. He’s taking shots and he’s aggressive like he hasn’t been,” commented Head Coach Steve Thorpe.
Other winners from Sweet Home’s boys were: freshman Cody Sieminski (113), juniors Riley Vaughan (120) and Jesse Landtroop (126), who is undefeated this year; and senior Dillan Davis (144).
“Dillan’s been wrestling very well,” Thorpe said of Davis, the defending state champion at 132 pounds who won by decision against Harrisburg’s Trayson Truesdell, last year’s 3A state runner-up at 138 pounds.
Freshman Cody Sieminski defeated teammate Keegan Jefferson (junior) in the finals to grab the 113 crown, just a week after pinning returning state champion Hezekiah Worthington of Newberg, a senior, at Rose City.
Other placewinners for the boys at the Linn County Championships were runner-ups Ryder Farris (106), Cael Stevenson (132), Luke Rosa (190) and Elijah Cruz (215).
Jasper Victor placed third at 138, with Talon Temple (106), Zach Davis (144), Macen Rosa (150), Michael Eggers (190) and Dyan Hartsook (215) finishing fourth.
Brayden Driver (132), Brodee Gay (157), Kyle Zajic (175) and Halen Salvador (285) were fifth and Gavin Baker (165) and Martin Chelstad (175) were sixth, Chelstad forfeiting the fifth-place final to Zajic.
Mattingly to win the 145-pound bracket
The girls didn’t disappoint either. Their 225 points ran away with the title against runner-ups West Albany (184) and Harrisburg (137).
Bailey Chafin led the day for the Huskies at 135 pounds, pinning all of her opponents to secure the title. Chafin was awarded the tournament’s outstanding wrestler honor for the third year in a row.
“She’s still continuing to come back. She’s wrestling awfully tough right now,” Thorpe stated.
Freshman Hailey Ayala (155) and sophomore Sydney Dominy (145) also won their brackets for Sweet Home.
In addition to the three winners, Sweet Home had seven silver-medalists.
Finishing second for Sweet Home were Lexi Lee (100), Kassidy Zajic (105), Lyla Ventura (115), Alizeah Weikel (120), Bella Rico (130), Madi Looney (140) and Bailey Newens (190).
Raelyn Andrews was third at 125 and fourth-placers were Natasha Marin (110) and Hailey Borromeo (135).
“The state, the county, and our fans are starting to realize that our girls are pretty stinkin’ tough. We took 13 girls here and they all placed,” said Tomas Rosa, girls head coach.
Rosa added: “What I like about our girls is that they don’t quit.”
“There’s no spot in the trophy case for the Linn County Championships. We’re looking for a state trophy.”
Earlier in the week, Sweet Home’s boys placed third at the Northwest Duals, one of the biggest dual tournaments of the year, featuring teams from all over Oregon and Washington.
Freshman Cody Sieminski (113), juniors Riley Vaughan (120) and Jesse Landtroop (126), and seniors Luke Rosa (190) and Lynkin Royer (285) went undefeated at the tournament.
The girls’ sixth-place performance was led by sophomores Bailey Newens (190) and Bella Rico (120); and junior Alizeah Weikel (120), who all went undefeated. Senior Bailey Chafin won six of her seven matches, most of them by pinning her opponent in less than a minute.
Sweet Home will travel to Salem on Wednesday, Jan. 7, for a dual against North Salem. The Huskies will then wrestle in front of their home crowd on Thursday, Jan. 8. The Green and Gold will finish off the week by hosting the Special District 2 Duals, beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 10. The Oregon Wrestling Classic, the dual-meet state championships, will begin on Jan. 16 at the Deschutes Fair Grounds at 11 a.m.
“We’re going to go in trying to win it,” said Thorpe of the Oregon Classic.
Lebanon Wrestlers
The Lebanon boys wrestling team wound up fourth at the Linn County Championships with an 144.5 point effort.
Lebanon dominated, to say the least, the 165 and 175 pound weight classes. At 165, Seth Wynn took home first place after defeating teammate Cade Weber in the final. In the 175 pound bracket, Grady Cox emerged victorious against fellow-Warrior Zach Halsey in the championship match.
Other placewinners for Lebanon were Tyson Trask, third at 157; fifth-placers Chase Breshears (106), Tyeler Myers (120), David Brandt (150), and Miller Swanson (190). Christopher Slinguff (126) and Lake Tucci (215) were sixth.
Lebanon’s girls placed sixth with 84 points behind Sweet Home (225), West Albany (184), Harrisburg (137), Central Linn (96) and South Albany (86).
Zoee Ruonavaara led the day for the Warriors. She won the 235-pound bracket by pinning her opponent in the brackets’ only match.
Three Warriors placed second for the girls” Mary Jane Duty at 110, Kenley Mortenson at 155 and Sophia Summerlin at 170. Penelope Heslip was fourth at 125.
“We have a couple girls not wrestling today, so I think we could’ve done a little bit better,” stated Assistant Coach Tucker Drummond.
Lebanon’s boys will compete Saturday, Jan. 10, at the Tigard Tournament, followed by a dual at Central High School on Jan. 14, beginning at 6 p.m. The girls will also compete at Central.
