Sweet Home?s wrestlers placed third Saturday, Dec. 17, at the seven-team McKay Holiday Tournament after rolling over Lebanon Wednesday, Dec. 14, in what was supposed to be a four-team tournament.
But, according to Sweet Home coach Steve Thorpe, Churchhill and South Eugene refused to wrestle the Huskies.
?I can speculate a lot of reasons why, but that?s not an option,? Thorpe said of the teams? backing out of their matches with Sweet Home. ?It?s like you can?t go to a double-header in baseball and change your mind.
?It?s against the rules and regulations of the OSAA. It?s absolutely unethical.?
Sweet Home beat Lebanon 41-25. Lebanon beat Churchhill 54-24 and South Eugene 74-6.
At McKay, Sweet Home was able to enter two wrestlers per weight class.
Redmond and Thurston, both 4A schools placed first and second, with 294.5 and 268 points respectively, with the Huskies third with 258 points, followed by McKay (224.5), North Salem (170), Lebanon (117) and Dallas (112).
Travis Walker, wrestling at 130 pounds for John Sutten, who had a family obligation, and Trevor Tagle, wrestling at 140, were individual champions for the Huskies.
?Travis Walker just wrestled above himself,? said Thorpe.
Shane Vandehei placed second at 135 after losing by a fall in the final to returning 4A state champion and national champion Austin Enoch of Redmond.
Thorpe spoke highly of freshmen Chris Farris (103) and Jack Perry (119), who have stepped into the line-up this year and ?shown heart, skill and integrity.?
?It?s not easy going from wrestling at the junior high level to wrestling at the varsity level,? he said. ?And we have a tough schedule. We just took third behind Thurston and Redmond. We lost some kids who are not wrestling who I?m disappointed aren?t wrestling, but I?m having an absolute ball coaching the kids we have right now.?
Thorpe noted that Shaw Valentine (215) and Shorty Weikel, who finished second at 145 at the McKay tournament, also are making an impact with hustle.
The wrestling team will take this week off. Thorpe said the winter break will allow coaches to polish some of the Huskies? skills.
?When you have 50 guys in the room, it?s hard to focus on the finer points of technique,? he said.
Sweet Home will return to the mat Jan. 5 at the Roseburg Tournament, which will feature many top 4A teams in the state.
McKay Tournament Results
(2 wrestlers maximum per division; top five place)
103 Chris Farris, fifth; Vick Zahler, DNP.
112 Aris Somatis, fourth; Danny Johnson, fifth.
119 Jack Perry, second; Jake Smith, fourth.
125 Derek Sharp, DNP.
130 Travis Walker, first; Leif Erickson, sixth.
135 Shane Vandehei, first.
140 Trevor Tagle, first; Daniel Smith, sixth.
145 Shorty Weikel, second; Nick Pitts, fifth.
152 Tom Helfrich, third; Sawyer Anderson, fifth.
160 Rob Helfrich, fifth, Brandon Lawson, DNP.
171 Colton Cooley, fifth.
189 Blain Bates, DNP.
215 Shaw Valentine, sixth; Kyle Holmes, DNP.
275 Matt Parker, third; Nathan Dahl, DNP.
Sweet Home 41, Lebanon 25
103 Amy Bloom, L, won by major decision over Chris Farris, SH, 11-2; 112 Aris Somatis, SH, dec. Tyler Henry, L, 7-2; 119 Jack Perry, SH, pinned Rudy Salazar, L, 5:26; 125 Isaac Salazar, L, pinned Jake Smith, SH, 3:33; 130 Travis Walker, SH, pinned Judd Wolfer, L, 1:08; 135 Shane Vandehei, SH, dec. Andrew Walnum, L, 4-2; 140 Trevor Tagle, SH, pinned Kenny Fontanos, L, 3:11; 145 Shorty Weikel, SH, pinned Mitchell Glasser, L, 3:05; 152 Tom Helfrich, SH, won by major decision over James Phillips, L, 14-2; 160 Bryant Darby, L, pinned Brandon Lawson, SH, 3:49; 171 Robert Helfrich, SH, dec. Ty Dickerson, L, 10-5; 189 Colton Cooley, SH, won by major decision over Todd Totten, L, 8-0; 215 Forrest Lammert, L, pinned Shaw Valentine, SH, 1:59; 275 Kyle Bellon, L, dec. Matt Parker, SH, 6-0.