SH wrestlers qualify nine for state as they finish second in regional

Scott Swanson

It wasn’t a regional championship, but Sweet Home came close Saturday, finishing second to Cascade and qualifying nine wrestlers for state at the regional meet in Cottage Grove.

“I think we absolutely did as good as we could have done,” Coach Steve Thorpe said of his Huskies. “Everybody on the team competed and when you have that, you have opportunity.”

Sweet Home finished with 272 points, behind Cascade’s 296. Central was third, with 261 and Elmira fourth with 208.

Sweet Home finished with two district champions, Kobe Olson at 106 pounds and Tyrel Miller at 113.

Olson, a freshman, edged teammate Aaron Blanchard, a sophomore, 2-0 in the final to win the title, but it could have gone either way, Thorpe said.

“With Kobe and Aaron, everybody got to see what I see in practice every day,” he said. “That was a coin-flick match. Those two boys made each other regional finalists.”

Miller “put in a lot of sacrifice” to wrestle at 113 pounds, and it paid off, Thorpe said.

“He dominated his tournament,” he said of the sophomore, who scored a 14-0 major decision over Newport’s Makiah Chadwick, sixth-ranked in that weight class, in the final.

“A lot of people don’t know that he had already beaten Chadwick once.”

In addition to those three, other state qualifiers for the Huskies were: freshman Tyler Fincher, who qualified for state at 113 pounds after placing third; junior Anthony Hardee, who placed second at 132 pounds; senior Dylan Elder, who was third at 120 pounds; senior Ben Terry, who was fourth at 182 pounds; and senior Troy Hazelton, who was third at 195 pounds.

Fincher, who wrestled at the junior varsity level this season behind his more experienced teammates, made good on his opportunity at the regional, bouncing back from a 9-8 quarterfinal loss to Cascade senior Connor Kelly to defeat Kelly 8-3 in the consolation semis.

Schilling’s 5-1 defeat by Cascade’s Logan Humphrey in the 120-pound final surprised some, since it was the junior’s third loss of the season, but Thorpe said it wasn’t as shocking as it appeared.

Schilling said he had “kind of a slow tournament” and “just didn’t wrestle my best.”

Thorpe noted that Humphrey is “a very good wrestler.”

“They’ve been wrestling each other since they were little kids. He would have liked to have won that match, but an early takedown changes the pace of the match.”

JASON MILLER works to break down opponent Jackson Holstad of Central.

He said Hardee wrestled “very, very hard” to make it into the finals against Elmira’s Garth Evenson, the No. 1 seed, and Elder’s return from an ankle injury that kept him sidelined for a couple of weeks was significant.

“He showed a lot of courage,” Thorpe said. “I’m very proud of him.”

Terry’s qualification was a plus after Jason Miller just missed the tournament at 152 pounds, losing a wrestle-back match after turning in “a great tournament” peroramnce, Thorpe said.

“Ben didn’t wrestle as good as he can, but he stayed persistent and he got the opportunity to wrestle back and won that to get his berth in state.”

Hazelton lost 12-7 to Central’s Colyn Lawson in the quarterfinals, but fought his way back through the consolation bracket to take another shot at Lawson and get some revenge, 8-6, and the consolation title.

“I didn’t do too well in my first match and my second one – things just kind of went downhill from there,” Hazelton said. “I lost to a kid I’d beaten a couple weeks before. Then I realised, ‘that can’t happen.’”

“Troy didn’t expect to lose, but he got an opportunity and he beat the kid that beat him earlier,” Thorpe said.

Also wrestling well, though he didn’t qualify, was senior Spencer Knight.

“Spencer wasn’t a wrestler two months ago,” Thorpe said. “I’m very proud of him, for the leadership and unselfishness he’s shown. He wrestled hard and he got sixth. It was kind of neat for him to get to do that.”

JOE RASMUSSEN works for control of Asa Alexander of Cascade.

He said sophomore Joe Rasmussen also turned in a “great” regional performance at 138 pounds, winning matches against wrestlers who had beaten him earlier in the season to finish fifth, including two pins, after getting pinned in his opening match.

Thorpe said it was those falls that took Sweet Home ahead of Central.

“We scored over 80 bonus points with falls,” he said. “That’s the difference in the tournament. That’s what made us finish ahead of Central. Cascade is a great wrestling team and they entered 26 wrestlers in this tournament. We entered 23.

“We went in with the wrestlers we had and every single kid wrestled his heart out,” Thorpe said. “I cannot fault anybody for not doing what we needed them to do.

“There were huge efforts by our kids. Everybody on the entire team competed.”

The state tournament opens at 8 a.m. Friday, Feb. 28, and Saturday, March 1, at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland. Finals will be at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Cost for Friday is $15, and Saturday’s sessions are $10 each for adults. Students are $10 on Friday and $8 per session on Saturday. Tickets for the entire tournament are available at $35 for adults and $25 for students.

Sweet Home’s wrestlers will open Friday’s action as follows:

106 – Third-seeded freshman Kobe Olson will open against junior Izaak Grubbs of Marshfield.

106 – Sophomore Aaron Blanchard, unseeded, will open against sophomore Michael Bresser of Henley.

113 – Fourth-seeded sophomore Tyrel Miller will open against freshman James Ahhee of Baker.

113 – Freshman Tyler Fincher, unseeded, will open against senior Johnny Avina of Crook County.

120 – Junior Tyler Schilling, unseeded, will open against junior Adam Keller of Molalla.

132 – Junior Anthony Hardee, unseeded, will open against sophomore Davin Nichols of Mazama.

132 – Senior Dylan Elder, unseeded, will open against senior Bee Nguyen of Klamath Union.

182 – Senior Ben Terry, unseeded, will open against second-seeded junior Chase Anderson of Klamath Union.

195 – Senior Troy Hazelton, unseeded, will open against senior Juan Lopez of Ontario.

Hardee said he’s seen results from working hard and having good partners, and he’s aiming to earn a medal this year after getting elminated early on as a freshman and sophomore.

“This time, a lot of people looking at me to place this year.,” he said. “The stakes are pretty high. We don’t have very many people qualified this year. We need people who aren’t supposed to win their matches to win their matches. This is the tournament to do it at. Notheing else really matters up to here.”

Schilling said the Huskies aren’t in the position they’re use to, going into state, but they know what they have to do.

“For some teams this is a good year for them,” he said. “For us, the whole line-up is a lot of newcomers. We’ve got nine wrestlers. That’s not very many., but I think it’s within the realm of possiblity to get in the top four.

“I think our region is one of the tougher regions. We’ve already beat teams that will be there, so I think top five is a good goal for us.”

OSAA 4A Special District 4

Wrestling Championships

Team Scores: (1) Cascade 296; (2) Sweet Home 272; (3) Central 261; (4) Elmira 208; (5) Newport 197; (6) Stayton 137; (7) Cottage Grove 135; (8) Philomath 117; (9) Taft 81; (10) Junction City 68.

Sweet Home Results and District Champions

106 – Kobe Olson won district championship. pinned Erik Alejandro (Newport) 0:42; pinned Richie Villalobos (Cottage Grove) 1:15; decisioned Joel Martinez (Junction City) 9-4; decisioned Aaron Blanchard (Sweet Home) 2-0.

106 – Aaron Blanchard placed second. pinned Cameron Poulin (Taft) 0:15; won by forfeit over Nickolas Hogan (Junction City); pinned Bryce Allen (Cottage Grove) 1:09; lost 2-0 to Kobe Olson (Sweet Home) in final.

113 – Tyrel Miller won district championship. pinned James Franklin (Newport) 0:12; pinned Riley Craig (Elmira) 3:04; major decisioned Makiah Chadwick (Newport) 14-0.

113 – Tyler Fincher placed third. Lost 9-8 to Connor Kelly (Cascade); pinned Lucas Swearengin (Cottage Grove) 0:42; decisioned Connor Kelly (Cascade) 8-3; major decisioned Darien Fagin (Cascade) 10-2.

120 – Tyler Schilling placed second. pinned Ethan Hiteshew (Cascade) 1:43; pinned Timothy Blair (Central) 1:54; lost 5-1 to Logan Humphrey (Cascade). Champion: Logan Humphrey (Cascade).

120 – Dillon Stutzman placed eighth. Lost by fall to Ethan Hiteshew (Cascade) 3:27;

lost by fall to Logan Humphrey (Cascade) 0:41; pinned Josiah Starr (Junction City) 1:09.

126 – Jimmy Sullivan did not place. Lost by fall to Kyle White (Elmira) 2:22; lost by fall to Joseph Goodwin (Junction City) 2:38. Champion: Joshua Connor (Newport).

132 – Anthony Hardee placed second. pinned Cooper Goguen (Stayton) 1:26; pinned Dillon Spangler (Elmira) 0:40; pinned Brice Spreadbury (Central) 0:46; lost by fall to Garth Evenson (Elmira) 3:24. Champion: Garth Evenson (Elmira).

132 – Dylan Elder placed third. pinned Cole Cade (Cascade) 4:44; pinned Israel Negrete (Central) 2:31; lost 6-0 to Garth Evenson (Elmira); pinned Israel Negrete (Central) 1:11.

138 – Joe Rasmussen finished fifth. Lost by fall to Joe Salsbery (Taft) 1:59; pinned Derek Stucki (Philomath) 2:26; 138: pinned Juan Mendoza (Central) 2:37; dec. Gannon Jones (Elmira) 8-6; won by injury default over Caleb Thompson (Stayton) 0:58; lost by fall to Daxten Blackwell (Central) 0:39; dec. Asa Alexander (Cascade) 9-3; forfeited to Daxten Blackwell (Central). Champion: Brogan Miner (Junction City).

138 – Jake Porter finished eighth. pinned Cleveland Smith (Stayton) 1:51; pinned Mason Walker (Elmira) 1:27; lost by fall to Brogan Miner (Junction City) 1:02; lost by fall to Asa Alexander (Cascade) 0:58.

145 – Oscar Hernandez did not place. Lost 9-3 to Brandon Dolan (Central); lost by fall to Keaton Fisher (Taft) 2:25. Champion: Darin French (Elmira).

145 – Travis Petersen did not place. pinned Nathaniel Knight (Central) 3:44; lost 6-5 to Cameron Butler (Stayton); lost 5-0 to Brandon McElhose (Elmira).

152 – Jason Miller placed fifth. Lost 6-3 to Ethan Agnes (Elmira) lost 5-1 to Henry Blades (Stayton); pinned Hunter Walker (Newport) 2:28; major dec. Jackson Holstad (Central) 10-1; pinned Levi Hanson (Elmira) 4:15; pinned Ezra Poynter (Cottage Grove) 2:16; lost 4-3 to Henry Blades (Stayton). Champion: Tanner Swinehart (Central).

152 – Evan Feigum placed eighth. Lost by fall to Ethan Agnes (Elmira) 2:53; pinned Ronald Benton Hayes (Cascade) 5:56; lost 5-1 to Jacob Morris (Philomath); pinned Jayson Stalder (Cottage Grove) 5:03.

160 – No Sweet Home entrants. Champion: Spencer Crawford (Cascade).

170 – Cole Ashcraft placed sixth. Won by decision over Oscar Amezcua (Central) 3-1; lost by fall to Dalen Hargett (Newport) 1:06; lost by fall to Kevin Kovachevich (Taft) 3:06; lost by major decision to Kuloly Tudela (Cascade) 9-0. Champion: Dalen Hargett (Newport).

170 – Austin Harvey did not place. Lost by fall to Trey Summers (Stayton) 1:29; lost by fall to Kevin Kovachevich (Taft) 1:58.

182 – Spencer Knight placed sixth. Lost by fall to Hayes VanDe Hey (Cascade) 1:06; pinned Bradley Geisler (Cottage Grove) 0:47; lost by fall to Marcos Molina (Central) 3:43; lost by medical forfeit to Ben Terry (Sweet Home); pinned Daniel Folkerts (Newport) 2:20; pinned Eric Sinclair (Philomath)

182 – Ben Terry placed fourth. Pinned Marcos Moline (Central) 3:36; dec. Wyatt Hall (Cascade) 6-3; lost 3-1 to Robby Duprau (Newport); lost 12-5 to Hayes VanDe Hey (Cascade); Won by medical forfeit over Spencer Knight (Sweet Home); dec. Marcos Molina (Central) 7-5. Champion: Robby Duprau (Newport).

195 – Troy Hazelton placed third. pinned Tyler Lewis (Philomath) 2:41; lost 12-7 to Collyn Lawson (Central); pinned Cale Byers (Stayton) 4:39;

pinned Seth Morris (Cottage Grove) 1:51; pinned Nakoma Newman (Taft) 1:11; dec. Collyn Lawson (Central) 8-6. Champion: Matt Engholm (Elmira).

195 – Ian Search did not place. pinned Xavior Morales (Central) 2:35; lost by major dec. to Daniel Regan (Newport) 9-1; lost by fall to Tanner Herbert (Cottage Grove) 1:57; won by forfeit over Ryen Daughs (Taft).

220 – Gavin Baskin did not place. Lost by fall to Ryan Westerkamp (Cottage Grove) 1:40; lost by fall to Jeffre Schaefer (Cascade) 2:30. Champion: David Vidal (Central).

285 – Colin VanEck did not place. Lost by fall to Marlon Tuipulotu (Central) 5:39; lost by fall to Zane Wardwell (Elmira) 0:53. Champion: Zane Wardwell (Elmira).

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