Scott Swanson
In a season that many wondered would even happen, Sweet Home wrestlers are bearing down to make the most of their opportunity, Coach Steve Thorpe says.
Although the Huskies were prohibited from engaging in many of their normal training activities due to the shutdown of school athletics and facilities by the state government for most of the past year, many found ways to work on their skills.
“I like how we look this year,” said Thorpe, who is beginning his 25th year at the helm. “I like the way we’re competing right now. We come with a great deal of kids who have spent time and worked to take advantage of opportunities to travel to Utah, Idaho, Arizona to find competition.”
Though their season opener against Newberg, considered one of the nation, last week ended in a loss, Thorpe said his team is experienced and focused and he expects the Huskies to do well when they get to the district and state competitions in mid- and late June.
Gone, of course, are two-time state champions Jackson Royer and Travis Thorpe, who led Sweet Home to a second-place finish in February 2020 against a stacked LaGrande team that put seven wrestlers in the state finals, including all five of the upper weights.
But returning for the Huskies are a whole slew of state placers from last year: sophomore Jake Sieminski, who was fourth in state as a freshman at 106; junior Kyle Watkins, fourth at 113; junior Christian Gregory, fourth at 132; junior Jesse Jamison, fourth at 170; senior Treyson Smith, fifth at 106; junior Brayden Newport,; and senior Tristan Spencer, sixth at 138.
Senior Jessy Hart returns to lead the girls after placing fourth last year at 125 pounds.
“Senior Treyson Smith is coming in as a two-time state placer, along with Tristan Spencer,” Steve Thorpe said. “We’ve got Jesse Jamison, Christian Gregory, Brayden Newport and Kyle Watkins, all juniors and all state placers. And Jessy was a state placer last year.
“Now we just have to see if we can get some guys to place for the first time.”
“We graduated a very good class, but we come in with a very strong group of seniors. We’ve got a few kids showing great leadership. Everybody got a year older.”
The Huskies number 32 wrestlers, including four girls, a little less than the normal, which is more around 40, he said, but there are plenty of veterans to take the lead. Plus, he said, those numbers are “typical in the state of Oregon right now.” As is true of many sports this year, teams have lost athletes to grades, to jobs and to other causes during the pandemic.
Thorpe said he’s focusing on the wrestlers who’ve turned out.
Rounding out the roster on the girls side are senior Sicily Neuschwander and junior Paige Chafin and Kami Hart.
On the boys side are: seniors Jake Fanning and Gavin Walberg; juniors Charlie Crawford, Colby Gazeley, Tanner McMahon, Dakota Melkvik, Brayden Newport, Kyle Watkins and Tucker Weld; sophomores Brandon Elder, Daniel Goodwin, Evan Jensen, Trenton Smith, Ethan Spencer and Kaden Zajic; and freshmen Evan Ashcraft, Ryker Hartsook, Huston Holly, Chance Linn, Kyle Sieminski and David Steagall.
Significantly, Fanning, Gazeley, Trenton Smith, Ethan Spencer, Weld, Walberg and Zajic also return with state experience, having qualified last year for the tournament, though they fell short of the medal rounds.
“We’re a young team,” Thorpe said. “We have a big sophomore class. We’re young right now, but I like where we’re at. The well is deep right now. We’ve got kids coming in and getting better. I’m excited for where we’re at right now.”
The Huskies, as usual, have one of the toughest schedules in the 4A, though they aren’t going to their normal line-up of big tournaments, because those tournaments aren’t happening.
After hosting Glencoe and Newberg and a wide variety of girls in a Women’s Open Thursday, May 20, the Huskies will wrestle Newport and Stayton at Stayton Thursday, May 27, followed by a trip to Redmond Friday, where they will participate in the Friday Night Lights tournament, which is not an OSAA function.
“Spectators are welcome,” Thorpe said. There the Huskies will see the kind of teams they normally do at events such as the Oregon Classic and the Resers tournaments: Redmond, Bend, Mountain View, Newberg and district foe Cascade.
They’ll participate in the Linn County Championships June 5 in Scio, then will host the regionals on June 17, followed by the Women’s Regionals at Thurston on June 18.
And the district and state meets, though they will be happening, are being organized by the Oregon Wrestling Association, chaired by Thorpe.
“The OSAA dragged their feet just like they have on everything else,” he said. “I stepped up a while ago and started planning it.”
The state tournament will be June 24 for the girls and June 26 for the boys, at locations yet to be announced, he said.
“I’m excited for what these guys have coming,” Thorpe said. “We signed up for wrestling and that’s what we plan to do.”