Sweet Home’s wrestlers rolled to wins over Siuslaw, Stayton and North Marion last week as the Huskies had a breather from the succession of larger tournaments they’ve competed in for the last month.
It wasn’t entirely planned; Sweet Home’s girls were scheduled to compete in Dallas over the weekend, but coaches realized that would have put them over the limit on competitions allowed during the season. So the Huskies got the weekend off.
The girls, who were ranked first in the small-schools poll conducted by OSAA – the first girls Wrestling Coaches Poll ever – had some good competition from Siuslaw on Wednesday, Jan. 18, though. The Vikings went 4-2 against Sweet Home’s girls, with Zoey Erevia and Miah Miller coming away with the wins, both by fall, for the Huskies. Sweet Home won the match 42-24.
“They have some good girls and some good individual boys,” Coach Steve Thorpe said of Siuslaw, which was in the 4A Special District 2 with Sweet Home last year before the Vikings dropped to the 3A Division.
“Siuslaw, hats off to them. They came over to wrestle us, to keep that little bit of a rivalry going. I really respect them and their coaches coming over to wrestle, especially after Marshfield bailed on us.
“It was a single dual; we were hoping to get more but we’ll take it.”
The Huskies won 65-12 but the score was indicative of how competitive most of the matches were.
Sweet Home then traveled to North Marion Thursday, Jan. 19, where the boys beat the hosts 78-6 and Stayton 72-12.
The girls beat North Marion 70-9 and Stayton 60-9.
The boys, who were ranked second, behind La Grande, in last week’s OSAA mid-season poll, are getting leadership on the mat from Trenton Smith at 152 pounds, “who’s continuing to wrestle well,” Thorpe said, as well as Jake Sieminski (138), “who continues to dominate his weight class and the one above.”
Also, he said, “Ethan Spencer (182) is wrestling really well. I’m pretty happy with those guys.”
Freshman Dillan Davis scored two falls at 106 pounds at North Marion and Daniel Goodwin is “looking good” at 145, he said.
“Ashton Swanson (160) is starting to look very good,” Thorpe said of the sophomore 160-pounder, who had three pins in the three matches, including a 14-second fall over Siuslaw’s Terry Elliott.
“He has an unorthodox style of wrestling but he’s hitting both sides, which is what it’s all about.”
The Huskies will compete Thursday, Jan. 26, against Junction City and Newport at Junction City, then will travel Friday and Saturday to Liberty High School for the Reser’s Tournament of Champions.
They will host Philomath and Cascade at home on Feb. 1, followed by the Special District 2 women’s regionals at Cascade Feb. 3-4.
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