Scott Swanson
Coming off their fourth straight year of placing in the top three at the state 4A wrestling tournament, the Huskies are looking at a cupboard that isn’t bare but needs some spaces filled.
It’s been a good run so far: two firsts, a second and a third-place team trophy since 2007.
But most of the core of veterans who helped the Huskies to second place last spring are gone to graduation: Brock Crocker, now at Southern Oregon State University, who won the state championship at 152 pounds last season; Taylor Tagle, who was second at 130 pounds; Mitch Grove, who was third at 112 pounds; Tyler Holly, seventh at 112 pounds, and Brad Pitts, who was eighth at 189 pounds.
“It’s a new year,” said Head Coach Steve Thorpe, who is entering his 15th year. “I’m not focusing on who graduated. I’m focusing on who I have. That’s what we’re working with.”
The good news is that several state place-winners are back this year: sophomore Colton Schilling, who won a state championship last year at 103 pounds; junior Scottie Stockman, who was fourth at 103 pounds; sophomore Tyler Cowger, who placed third while wrestling injured at 125 pounds; and senior Kris Newport, a state champion as a freshman, who was fourth last year at 140 pounds.
There are more with state or big tournament experience. Senior Kyle Hummer and senior Jacob Jewell both have state experience, along with sophomores Hunter Bidwell and junior Ty Harvey.
Thorpe noted that Colby DeCleve, Zach Gill and Trever Olson all wrestled on Oregon’s national team last spring, placing in freestyle and Greco.
“We have a lot of kids who have done extra things,” Thorpe said.
Assistants are Tim Boatwright, now in his 31st year as a coach, Steve Hummer, Tomas Rosa, a Husky alum who recently completed his career with Southern Oregon University, Eric Tagle, and volunteers Trevor Tagle, Rob Martin and Clint Sieminski helping out.
He said the wrestlers are grouped in several different general weight classes, and since they can’t all compete at the same weight, some of the Huskies are going to have to find their spots.
“As is the case any time, as the season goes kids will find their spot where they can be most successful,” Thorpe said. “It’s going to be a while. We have to get the guys in shape. It will be a while before they are physically and mentally where they need to be. We know this is a long season and we need to keep our focus on that. We’ll point to certain competitions we want to peak at and others are just part of the training process.”
A big change this year is the way wrestlers qualify for state.
The change to the Sky-Em League, the third Thorpe has competed in since becoming head coach, is not going to affect the Huskies as much as the switch to a regional qualification system that is going into effect this year. That’s because two of the Sky-Em teams, Sisters and La Pine, aren’t even in District 4, which is mostly teams from the west end of the Sky-Em territory and the new Oregon West Conference: Cascade, Central, Cottage Grove, Elmira, Junction City, Newport, Philomath, Stayton and Taft.
Thorpe said he is familiar and on good terms with the coaches in the Sky-Em conference, as well as the rest of the district.
“Cottage Grove has a tough wrestling team and Elmira has some good individuals,” he said. Cascade has also become one of the better teams in the 4A over the last several years.
Instead of the top two three finishers in each district tournament qualifying for a three-day state tournament, the OSAA has reduced the tournament to two days and now only the top four wrestlers from each region will qualify in each weight division, resulting in 16-wrestler brackets rather than 24.
“Our goals haven’t changed,” Thorpe said. “We still want to win the conference and qualify as many to state as we can. We want to bring home a trophy.”
Sweet Home will kick things off Friday with a five-way match with Henley, Cascade, Lebanon and Crook County. Henley and Cascade are among the top 4A teams in the state and Lebanon placed third at state in the 5A tournament last year.
“Wrestling a tough schedule is what we do to prepare for February,” Thorpe said.
“We have some kids working very, very hard. I’m excited about the direction of Sweet Home wrestling. It may be another new year, but it’s not the same ol’, same ol’.”