Scott Swanson
Thursday, June 17, was a big day for Sweet Home as 21 wrestlers qualified for the state tournament.
But the Huskies’ last qualifier was the one that electrified the crowd in Sweet Home’s Main Gym, a fourth-place finish by 170-pounder Kaden Zajic, who had to win a wrestle-back with Cascade’s Blake Perlichek, who had pinned him earlier in the tournament, to secure a berth at state.
It was a barn-burner, even by wrestling standards, where things can get dramatic.
After multiple halts to the match as trainers and coaches patched up bleeding spots on Zajic’s face, the sophomore scored a last-second escape to beat Perlichek 19-18 in a back-and-forth match.
Zajic said he was “really nervous” coming into the match, with his season on the line.
“I was trying to do stuff like not tie up every time, and that’s what I did the first round,” he said. “But then I was winning and got a little crazy on my throws and stuff. I hit my nose and I thought I was done. I got all dizzy.”
But (Coach Steve) Thorpe was “yelling at me,” he said, “and that gave me a little more motivation to go out there and win that match. That was the best match I’ve ever had.”
Thorpe noted that wrestle-backs are tough when “you’re coming off of a loss and that person’s coming off of a win.”
“It’s time to compete. That kid pinned Kaden earlier in the tournament. We made some adjustments and Kaden came in with a different mindset to get it done. He won with seven seconds left. That’s what we train for.”
Meanwhile, five Sweet Home wrestlers won district titles: freshman Kyle Sieminski at 106 pounds, sophomore Jake Sieminski at 120, junior Brayden Newport at 145, senior Tristan Spencer at 152, and sophomore Ethan Spencer at 182. All the Husky finalists won, so there were no runner-ups.
Sweet Home won the team title with 429.5 points, entering 26 wrestlers. Philomath (10 wrestlers) was second (203), followed by Siuslaw (13 wrestlers/162.5 points), Cascade (16/151); Junction City (11/137.5), Elmira (13/124), Stayton (10/117), and Newport (3/10).
Placing third were freshman Evan Ashcraft at 106, senior Treyson Smith at 120, junior Kyle Watkins at 126 with a win over sophomore teammate Brandon Elder, junior Christian Gregory at 132, sophomore Trenton Smith at 138, freshman Ryker Hartsook at 145, junior Jesse Jamison at 160, with a win over sophomore teammate Daniel Goodwin, who then lost a wrestle-back to fall short of qualifying for state, junior Charlie Crawford at 182, junior Tucker Weld at 195, senior Jake Fanning at 220 and junior Colby Gazeley at 285, who beat freshman teammate Huston Holly, who then lost a wrestle-back to fall short of qualifying.
Other fourth-place finishers who did land state berths were freshman Jayce Miller at 113, Elder at 126, junior Tanner McMahon at 138, and freshman David Steagall at 195.
“We have every weight class filled,” Thorpe said.
we have every weight class filled.
Jake Sieminski finished with a technical fall over Philomath junior Blake Niemann, who was on his back for most of the 15-0 match, but refused to cave.
“There were a lot of times when I had him on his back but I couldn’t get it,” Sieminski said. “I can definitely work on some things, especially get my pins going.”
He said his plan for this weekend is to “hopefully win state.”
His brother, Kyle, said he’s been watching his brother, who he described as “super tough” and “a great role model.”
He said he’d like to “win it all. That’d be fun.”
The two “dominated” their divisions, Thorpe noted, none of their opponents except Niemann lasting a minute.
Newport, who qualified for the third time, said the year’s been “hectic, and something different – we’re wrestling in June. We’ll never see this again.”
He said Thorpe brought the Huskies into the season with the same expectations as he would if we had a four-week or a three-month season.
“I want to be state champ next week,” he said. “I’ve gone two years without it.
Ethan Spencer said one of his biggest challenges will be just being heavy enough to compete in the 182-pound division, in which he has routinely competed against heavier opponents this year.
Thorpe said Tristan and Ethan Spencer were also dominant, pinning their way through.
The OWA state tournament starts Friday at Cascade High School with a bandit schedule featuring 106 through 145 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the heavier weights following, running from 4 through 8 p.m.
Spectators can only enter if they have tickets provided by wrestlers.
Saturday’s action begins at 11 a.m. with the blood and medal rounds. Matches will be viewable on the dashboard or livestream at http://www.trackwrestling.com.