Benny Westcott and Scott Swanson
By Benny Westcott
and Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
Sweet Home won its eighth straight district wrestling title Saturday, Feb. 12, leaving the rest of the field in its wake and qualifying 17 wrestlers for the state championships.
The Huskies put 15 wrestlers in the finals, six of them facing teammates, at 113, 145 and 152 pounds.
District champions for Sweet Home were sophomore Kyle Sieminski at 106 pounds, freshman Jacob Landtroop at 113; senior Kyle Watkins at 120; sophomore Ryker Hartsook at 145; junior Kaden Zajic at 152; junior Ethan Spencer at 160; sophomore David Steagall at 195; and senior Colby Gazeley at 220.
The Huskies finished with 428 points, well ahead of Cascade, which was the last team to beat them – in 2014, which had 226.5. Philomath was third with 174.
Coach Steve Thorpe said his team came to wrestle.
“We have a lot of lead-ins for things and build-ups for things. I think were ready.”
Other state championship qualifiers for Sweet Home were: sophomore Jace Miller, second at 113 pounds; junior Jacob Sieminski, second at 126; senior Christian Gregory, second at 132; junior Trenton Smith, second at 138; junior Daniel Goodwin, second at 145; freshman Ashton Swanson, second at 152; senior Charlie Crawford, second at 182; junior Evan Jensen, fourth at 182 after a wrestle-back; and senior Tucker Weld, third at 195.
“I think those guys can score points for us at the state tournament,” Thorpe noted.
Also placing were sophomore Evan Ashcraft, fifth at 106; sophomore Alex Reed, sixth at 120; freshman Brody Olson, fifth at 126; freshman Laird Pettner, eighth at 132; freshman Colton Lester, eighth at 138; freshman Kayo Ebbs, fifth at 160; junior Evan Jensen, fifth at 182; and senior Dakota Melkvik, sixth at 285.
Kyle Siminski was confident going into his final and said he wasn’t nervous.
“I knew I was going to beat the kid, and I beat him worse than last time,” he said of his 49-second pin of Cascade’s Brody Copple.
Looking ahead to the state tournament, Sieminski, who won a state title last year as a freshman, said he’s “pretty confident. I think I’m going to win.”
Despite the potential distraction of wrestling a teammate in the final, Hartsook focused on “wrestling my match.”
During the season, Hartsook said he’s been “showing up every day, working as hard as I can, and grinding.”
Zajic said he was proud of himself after his regional victory. Before the final, he reminded himself to “Be confident and wrestle without fear.”
He said his most difficult match was in the second round, and he got through it by “taking things slow and not rushing anything.”
Spencer said his strategy in the final was to score as many points as he could as early as possible. Along with his coach, he gave credit to practice partner and brother Tristan Spencer for getting him to where he is today.
“I went to a lot of practices and worked out after practice for a couple hours every night,” Spencer said.
Spencer was voted the Outstanding Wrestler for the upper weights in the tournament, wrestling in what Thorpe called “one of the tougher weights in the tournament.”
Gazley said he looked at his bracket going in and realized that he had already beaten most wrestlers in it.
He said the semifinal was his toughest match, during which he focused on “just continuing to push into him, and trying to get my attack on.”
Going into the final he said he was worried he would underestimate his opponent and focused on getting those thoughts out of his head.
Gazley said he is looking forward to the state tournament, where he expects to do well.
Thorpe predicted that Gazeley will see some tough competition at 220 this year, which, along with the heavyweight division, is “loaded.”
“Colby did a great job for us (in districts) at 220,” he said. “He’s been a heavyweight every other year. He’s gotten healthy and leaned up.”
Thorpe and his staff were voted the coaching staff of the year for the district by their peers.
The 4A state championship tournament will be a one-day event, held Saturday, Feb. 26, at Cascade. Details on the spectator situation will be announced later.
OSAA 4A Special District 2
Championship Results
Team Scores – (1) Sweet Home 428; (2) Cascade 226.5; (3) Philomath 174; (4) Elmira/Crow 170; (5) Stayton 150.5; (6) Siuslaw 112; (7) Junction City 97.5; (8) Newport 22.
106 – Evan Ashcraft pinned Victor Perez (Newport) in OT,6-2; lost by fall to Brody Copple (Cascade) (3:39); dec. Drew Baker (Cascade) 7-0; lost 5-2 dec. to Victor Perez (Newport); lost 13-2 maj. dec. to River Sandstrom (Philomath). Finished fifth.
106 – Kyle Sieminski pinned Samantha Leeth (Stayton) (0:25); pinned River Sandstrom (Philomath) (0:53); pinned Brody Copple (Cascade) (0:49). Champion.
113 – Jacob Landtroop pinned Cameron McConnell (Philomath) (1:07); pinned Payton Burlingame (Cascade) (3:00); maj. dec. Jayce Miller (Sweet Home) 12-4. Champion.
113 – Jayce Miller pinned Jason Hoffman (Cascade) (0:58); pinned Colton Barklow (Elmira/Crow) (1:17); lost 12-4 maj. dec. to Jacob Landtroop (Sweet Home). Finished second.
120 – Alex Reed lost by fall to Conrad Baxter (Stayton) (0:27); pinned Josua Estrada (Newport) (2:33); lost by fall to Wyatt Hooper (Stayton) (0:51); lost by fall to Jayden Stewart (Junction City) (1:58); Finished sixth.
120 – Kyle Watkins pinned Wyatt Hooper (Stayton) (1:39); dec. Benjamin Hernandez (Philomath) 5-0. Champion.
126 – Brody Olsen lost by fall to Blake Niemann (Philomath) (0:15); won by forfeit over Dylan Nelson (Cascade); lost by fall to Chase Ringwald (Philomath) (0:50); lost by fall to Yoskar Delamora (Siuslaw) (0:45); pinned Easton Conner (Stayton) (5:50). Finished fifth.
126 – Jacob Sieminski pinned Chase Ringwald (Philomath) (1:00); lost by fall to Blake Niemann (Philomath) (4:51). Finished second.
132 – Christian Gregory pinned Riley Burns (Stayton) (0:14); pinned Leonardo Robertson (Siuslaw) (1:41); dec. Caleb Blackburn (Philomath) 4-2; lost by fall to Mauro Michel (Stayton) (0:33). Finished second.
132 – Laird Pettner lost by fall to Mauro Michel (Stayton) (1:04); pinned Walker Westbrook (Philomath) (3:27); lost by fall to Tayton Miller (Cascade) (2:42). Finished eighth.
138 – Colton Lester pinned Colton Faust (Philomath) (1:39); lost by fall to Eli Howard (Stayton) (0:14); won by forfeit over Hunter Petterson (Siuslaw); lost by fall to Wayde Walton (Elmira/Crow) 1:30). Finished eighth.
138 – Trenton Smith maj. dec. Wayde Walton (Elmira/Crow) 11-2; won by inj. def. over Trenton Wymore (Cascade); lost 10-5 to Howard (Stayton). Finished second.
145 – Daniel Goodwin pinned Robbi Aerni (Stayton) (3:41); pinned Ian Drago (Elmira/ Crow) (5:32); lost 7-0 to Ryker Hartsook (Sweet Home). Finished second.
145 – Ryker Hartsook pinned Liam Ritchie (Stayton) (0:26); pinned Tobias Stemmermann (Cascade) (0:41); pinned Seth Drago (Elmira/Crow) (3:53); dec. Daniel Goodwin (Sweet Home) 7-0. Champion.
152 – Ashton Swanson pinned Christian Olivars (Newport) (2:52); pinned David Griffith (Philomath) (4:34); lost by fall to Kaden Zajic (Sweet Home) (0:44). Finished second.
152 – Kaden Zajic pinned Ryder Zitlau (Philomath) (0:59); maj. dec. Ruben Fox (Elmira/Crow) 16-5; pinned Ashton Swanson (Sweet Home) (0:44). Champion.
160 – Kayo Ebbs lost by fall to Carson Henderson (Junction City) (2:46); pinned Nicholas Ribera (Cascade) (4:41); pinned JJ Lewis (Philomath) (5:20); lost 10-1 maj. dec, to Mason Buss (Siuslaw); lost by fall to Jason Ritchie (Stayton) (5:00); dec. Cash Butler (Cascade) 13-7. Finished fifth.
160 – Ethan Spencer pinned Cash Butler (Cascade) (0:28); dec. Mason Buss (Siuslaw) 8-7; dec. Carson Henderson (Junction City) 16-9. Champion.
170 – Nathan Thompson lost by fall to Emmett Henderson (Junction City) (1:13); lost by fall to Caleb Darby (Cascade) (1:42). Did not place.
182 – Charlie Crawford pinned Jared Gerding (Philomath) (1:20); dec. Blake Perlichek (Cascade) 8-3; lost by tech fall to Lance VanHoose (Cascade) (23-8 5:34). Finished second.
182 – Evan Jensen lost by fall to Jonathan Wiese (Newport) (1:19); pinned Kaikane Osuna (Stayton) (1:14); lost by fall to Blake Perlichek (Cascade) (2:28); pinned Jesus Garcia (Siuslaw) (1:36); pinned Jonathan Wiese (Newport) (1:11). Finished fifth.
195 – David Steagall pinned Ladarius Reed (Junction City) (0:22); pinned Dayne Muller (Siuslaw) (1:11). Champion.
195 – Tucker Weld pinned Kaden Fraser (Cascade) (4:31); lost by fall to Dayne Muller (Siuslaw) (3:47); pinned Andrew Snyder (Cascade) (3:04); pinned Ladarius Reed (Junction City) (0:41). Finished third.
220 – Colby Gazeley pinned Zane Clemmer (Elmira/Crow) (1:49); pinned Cort Waggoner (Siuslaw) (1:40); pinned Tucker Melton (Cascade) (0:57). Champion.
220 – Brad Marks lost by fall to Tucker Melton (Cascade) (2:50); lost by fall to
River Howell (Siuslaw) (3:15). Did not place.
285 – Dakota Melkvik lost by fall to Connor Legner (Cascade) (1:14); pinned Kaiden Sloane (Newport) (1:49); won by forfeit over Aiden Armstrong (Siuslaw); lost by fall to Brett Highburger (Elmira/Crow) (3:38); lost by fall to Connor Legner (Cascade) (0:21). Finished sixth.