Four Huskies made it to the finals of Saturday’s South Albany Invitational, but none was crowned champion in the meet that attracted some stiff 4A competition.
Sprague took the tournament title with 135 pounds, followed by Canby 116, South Albany, 106 and Sweet Home 103. Thurston had 90; West Albany, 73; Westview, 61 and Lebanon, 60.
“This is always a good tournament,” Coach Steve Thorpe said. “It attracts good teams and it’s close to home as we get nearer the district and state tournaments.”
Coach Thorpe said his Huskies had some good wins–such as Thomas Helfrich 140 pounds, who battled back from a 13-0 deficit to pin his opponent.
“The kid pulled a single on him and cradled him,” Coach Thorpe said. “In the third round, Thom got on top, forced a half and then pinned the kid. He was still wrestling hard, even though he was down 13-0.”
103: McCaslin, was runner-up, losing a 19-3 decision to Ryan Allen of Thurston; 112: Sells, runner-up, losing a 7-6 decision to Zack Lowry of Canby; 119: John Sutten, fifth; 125: Jon Farris, third, losing a 6-2 decision to Jose Ledesma of West Albany; 130: Shane Vandehei, fourth, losing by pin to Isaac Rykken of Canby; 135: Trevor Tagle, fourth, losing a 5-1 decision to Josh Gottfried of Westview; 140: Thom Helfrich, fourth, losing a 5-4 decision to Akash Mankaney of Westview; 145: Rob Helfrich, third, winning by forfeit over David Smith of South Albany; 152: Colton Cooley, seven, pinning Sean McCormick of Westview; 160: Colt Campbell, sixth, losing by pin to Aaron Gasely of Lebanon; 171: no entry; 189: Brandon Martin, runner-up, losing to Shawn Doman of Canby 4-3; 215: Jesse Aitken, runner-up, losing 10-9 to Michael Church of Sprague; 275: Chris Kelley, third, scoring an 18-14 decision over James Holmes of West Albany.