Sweet Home’s wrestlers placed first on the boys side at the Grants Pass Winter Kickoff Dec. 14-15, which featured 30 teams from southern Oregon and northern California.
Juniors Nich James (184) and Travis Thorpe (152), and sophomore Tristan Spencer (126) all won individual championships.
Spencer major-decisioned his first-round opponent (13-0), pinned the next two, and then scored a technical fall over Sheldon’s Rudy Zambrano (21-4, 5:25) for the individual title.
Coach Steve Thorpe noted that it was Spencer’s first win in a varsity tournament.
“It was a great tournament. We beat some good kids. I hope this motivates him.”
Thorpe pinned his first three opponents, then decisioned returning state placer Cannon Potts of Mountain View 12-9 to win the title.
James pinned his first three opponents, then scored a 17-2 technical fall over Trevor Fulton of Ashland in the final to win in 5:15.
Jackson Royer, at 138, and Boe Baxter, at 160, both lost their final match to place second.
“If you look at those finals match-ups, Boe and Jack and Travis matched up with returning state placers in different divisions,” Steve Thorpe said. “Hats off to those guys, who wrestled well.”
Other place winners for the boys were: Robert Watkins, third at 132; Robbie Yunke, third at 145; Hayden McDonald, third at 170; Brayden Newport, fourth at 132; Kyle Watkins, fourth at 106; Treyson Smith, fifth at 106; and Bryce Porter, sixth at 138.
Thorpe said that some of the lower place-winners, particularly those who came back to take third, “had a great tournament.”
Also competing, but not placing, for the Huskies were: Connor Ford at 113; Keegan Fox at 126; Gavin Walberg at 145; Austin Olin at 195; Levi Baird at 220; and David McMullen at 285.
Sweet Home scored 250 points to top the 29 other teams in the tournament. Mountain View was second with 202, and Dayton was third with 130.
The Sweet Home girls placed second out of 30 teams, behind individual wins by Marissa Kurtz (120) and Lexi Schilling (110).
The Huskies scored 139 points with eight wrestlers, five of whom made the finals. They finished behind Eureka (Calif.) Senior, which had 16, including 13 scorers, and and finished with 150 points. Creswell, with five wrestlers, was third with 67 points.
Kurtz pinned her first two opponents, Lila Davis of Arcata, Calif. (1:11) and Jane Marquess of Creswell (0:59) before major-decisioning Shayla McNulty of Eagle Point in the final, 13-0.
Schilling decisioned Hannah Bettis of Creswell 5-1, then pinned Madison Shearer of Henley in what Thorpe described as a “huge” finals match, in 5:59.
Also placing for Sweet Home were Sicily Neuschwander, second at 105 after losing by a fall to Grants Pass’s Samantha Dara in the final; Madelyn Neuschwander, second at 115 after an injury default in the final against Lydia Kenyon of McKinleyville (Calif.); Jessy Hart, second at 125 after losing by a fall to Emma Truax of Phoenix (3:06); Dyanna Arnold, second at 155 after a loss to Kara Davis of Eagle Point; and Kailey James, fourth at 135. Competing but not placing, was Paige Chafin at 120.
“This is our very first trophy as a women’s team,” Thorpe said. “I’m very proud of the girls for starting what hopefully will be many more trophies to come.”
He said that is just a step in the building of the girls program.
“Our girls are starting to wrestle better and better,” he said. “They’re working very hard and we need to find them good competition to get them ready for regionals.”
Jesse Jamison, at 160 pounds, was the lone winner for the 14 Husky JV wrestlers, who were fourth out of 29 teams with 164 points. Crater won with 424 points from 21 wrestlers, followed by Grants Pass (363/40 wrestlers) and North Bend 186/20 wrestlers).
Also placing for Sweet Home were: Noah Moore, second at 170; Isaac Schaffer, fourth at 152; Jake Fanning, fifth at 220; and Colby Gazeley, fifth at 285.