Tyler Schilling was named Sweet Home’s Outstanding Wrestler Friday night at the team’s awards banquet.
Schilling, who also won the award last year, finished the highest at the state championships of Sweet Home’s wrestlers, which is the criteria for the award, Coach Steve Thorpe said.
The senior 126-pounder finished the year 55-3, taking third place at state. Schilling also received the Most Takedowns Award – scoring the first takedown 45 times. He also set the school record for the most career wins at 201.
Thorpe said the reason for that was Schilling did not completely dominate his weight division in his first couple of years of high school wrestling.
“He didn’t win everything he did. But he showed up the next day. He came up the backside. If you’re always on the front side of the bracket, you don’t get matches. Ty spent some time there in his earlier years.”
Junior Tyrel Miller received two awards, the Workhorse Award, which goes to a wrestler who pushes himself and teammates, and the Most Falls award – 39 pins in going 52-7.
Rookie of the Year went to freshman Ricky Yunke, who qualified for state at 113 pounds and finished 40-7.
Most Improved were junior Gavin Baskin and sophomore Dillon Stutzman.
Baskin, Thorpe said, put in the time necessary in the weight room “to make himself better” and finished as a placewinner at 220 pounds in the regional tournament. Stutzman, a JV wrestler for much of the year at 126 pounds, went on a five-win streak to place fourth in the regional tournament, though he lost a wrestle-back for a state to a more experienced wrestler.
The Iron Man Award, which goes to wrestlers who overcome adversity – illness, injury “or not feeling like coming to practice” went to Schilling, senior Anthony Hardee and sophomore Kobe Olson.
The Huskies said goodbye to six seniors: Schilling, Anthony Hardee, Jason Miller, Travis Peterson, Cole Ashcraft and Joe Salsbery, who transferred in mid-season from Taft.
Fourth-year letters went to Hardee and Schilling.
Third-year letter winners were Tyrel Miller, Cole Ashcraft and Jason Miller.
Second-year letters went to Tyler Fincher, Kobe Olson, Jake Porter, Gavin Baskin, Joe Rasmussen and Travis Petersen.
Earning their first letter were Salsbery, Bryce Coulter, Justin Kurtz, Boden Petersen, Ricky Yunke, Bryson Denver, JC Elder, Oscar Hernandez, Nick McIntyre, Devin Stafford, Dillon Stutzman, Dalton Doerfler and Daniel Rooney.
Thorpe, competling his 19th season at Sweet Home, described the 2014-15 Huskies as “probably one of the favorite seasons I’ve ever coached.”
“This is the first time in my coaching career that we started the season with 31 wrestlers and finished with 33. We didn’t have a single kid quit this team. That’s an accomplishment,” he said, adding that quitting is common when things get tough in modern society. “When things go wrong, quit. When the coach doesn’t like me, quit.”
He noted that the Huskies finished 29-5 in dual meets.
“If you’d told me last year that we’d finish 29-5, I wouldn’t have believed you. We don’t wrestle an easy schedule. We beat some good schools.”
He said that this team also was unselfish.
“I’ve had teams where I’ve had a wrestler or parent say ‘I won’t wrestle up’ or ‘I don’t want my kid to wrestle up.’ This team is so unselfish. I didn’t have to explain. They just said OK. It was not just a sometimes thing.”
Thorpe said these Huskies continue to stand out, starting with his freshmen.
“Every one of these guys is wrestling freestyle and greco,” he noted. “That’s exciting to me.”
A “very big” sophomore class, of whom “a lot” have already had varsity experience, and juniors of whom, Thorpe said, “I don’t doubt their leadership ability in the least,” return next year, he said.
“I’m expecting a lot of big things out of this group because they don’t have a choice,” he said of the sophomores.