Sweet Home’s boys wrestlers finished second out of 38 teams, including some of the best in the Northwest, last weekend at the Rose City Championships at Westview High School in Portland.
The Huskies finished second out of 38 teams, behind Tahoma (Wash.), which finished with 377.5 points, ahead of the Huskies’ 330.5. Camas (Wash.) was third (282.5), ahead of Thurston (278) and Newberg (264).
Sweet Home had two individual champions. Freshman Cody Sieminski was first at 113, pinning Hezekiah Worthington of Newberg in the final (3:47), while junior Jesse Landtroop was first at 126, winning a major 12-4 decision over Haziel Soto of Capital (Wash.)
“I was pleased with our results,” Coach Steve Thorpe said. “We’ve been beat by the top team in Alaska (Soldotna, at the Perry Burlison Tournament) and one of the top teams in Washington.
“We didn’t have our full lineup, but we got big performances.”
Senior Tytus Hardee was second at 132 for the Huskies, losing by a fall to Tahoma’s Owen Marshall in the final.
Senior Dillan Davis placed second at 144, losing by a fall to Alex Othon (Tahoma) in what Thorpe described as a “travesty” of rules applications after the wrestlers tumbled off their mat during the match.
“He never got on track in that match. Tytus didn’t like his outcome and neither did Dillan.”
Macen Rosa was fourth at 150, losing by a tech fall (6:57, 16-0) to Bradley Holland of Sumner, Wash., in the third-place match, a “fantastic” finish for the freshman, Thorpe said.
Senior Luke Rosa placed fourth at 190, losing by a fall in 1:42 in the consolation final to Griffin Copple of Cascade.
Junior Riley Vaughan, who has been “dominant” this year, according to Thorpe, was fifth at 120 and junior Keegan Jefferson was sixth at 113 after forfeiting the fifth-place match.
Sophomore Elijah Cruz placed sixth at 215, losing the fifth-place match 18-6 to Abhijeet Saroya of Kentwood, Wash).
Girls making strides
Sweet Home’s girls wrestled in the War of the Roses tournament, also held last weekend at Westview, concurrently with the boys tournament.
The girls finished 15th out of 36 teams behind junior Alizeah Weikel, who placed fourth at 120, forfeiting the third-place match to Caitlyn Kendall of Newberg because Weikel had exceeded her match limit for the tournament, Thorpe said.
Lyla Ventura placed sixth at 115, losing the fifth-place match by a late fall (4:59) to Yoselin Nunez of Dallas.
In the JV tournament, freshman Lexi Lee was fourth at 110, Hailey Ayala was first and Alexis Bernardi was third at 155
“That tournament had over 40 women’s teams and these brackets were not little brackets,” Thorpe said. “They got matches. Our kids wrestled anywhere from five to nine matches,”: he added, referring to both the boys and girls tournaments. “ When you get that many matches in two days, it’s huge.”
The girls also competed Dec. 10 in Lebanon at the the Lady Warriors Invitational, placing fourth out of 14 teams, most of them from the Willamette Valley.
Wrestling with a depleted lineup, the Huskies finished behind Dallas (601.5 points), West Albany (469.5) and South Salem (409.5) with 352 points. The next closest 4A school was Stayton, 10th with 104 points.
Alizeah Weikel was Sweet Home’s top finisher, taking the 120-pound bracket with a quick pin (0:43) of Olivia Young of South Salem in the final.
Averi Temple was second at 100 pounds, losing by a fall in the final to Daisy Paniagua (North Salem) (2:35)
Bella Rico was second at 130, losing by a fall at 5:29 in the match to Naudia Edmiston of West Albany.
“Bella has been wrestling tough as nails,” Thorpe said. “All those girls have been wrestling hard.”
Kassidy Zajic placed third at 110, winning the consolation final by a fall over Azura Stuart of Waldport in 37 seconds.
Hailey Borromeo was third at 135, winning the consolation final by a fall over Teagan Goforth of Crescent Valley in 3:12.
Raelyn Andrews finished fifth at 130 and Madi Looney was fifth at 155.
Sydney Dominy placed sixth at 145.
The Huskies host their first home meet of the season at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17, hosting Cascade in the Sweet Home Duals. They will wrestle Saturday at the Thurston Duals on Saturday.