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Wrestlers win district, qualify 21 for state meet

Sweet Home made its presence felt Saturday as the newcomer in Val-Co league wrestling.

The Huskies dominated the district meet at Philomath, with 17 wrestlers making the finals in 13 of the 14 weight classes.

The Huskies scored 388 1/2 points to take the district title over Philomath (214), Central (107) Newport (106.5), and Taft (51).

Sweet Home qualified 21 wrestlers for the state championships, which start Thursday at the state fairgrounds in Salem. The finals will be Saturday night and Huskies Coach Steve Thorpe said he has high hopes, with so many wrestlers qualifying for a trip to Salem.

“That’s more than I thought we would; it’s more than we’ve ever had,” Thorpe said of his qualifiers. “There’s a lot of scoring potential with 21 wrestlers.

“We’re not going to place 21 guys, but if each of them can win a match and if they can get a fall, we’re going to score. We’re going with the goal that we’d like a trophy.”

Thorpe has said since Sweet Home was moved to the Val-Co conference that he expected it to be less competitive than the Capital Conference and he was right,.

“I know it hasn’t typically been a conference that has a lot of depth, but we saw some quality wrestlers here tonight,” he said.

Sweet Home had eight district champions in Taylor Tagle (103), Danny Johnson (112), Jake Smith (119), Brock Crocker (125), Joe McCaslin (130), Nick Pitts (145), Andrew Knight (152) and Rob Helfrich (189). Taft’s Kyle Beatty won the 135-pound district title, and Newport’s Jeremy Keenan won the 140-pound title. Philomath proved stronger in the other, heavier, weights with Matt Hill (150), Kolt Gunter (171), Heath Huneycutt (215) and Travis Spencer (285) winning those divisions.

State qualifiers for the Huskies are Tagle and Mitch Grove in the 103-pound weight class, Danny Johnson and Casey Johnson at 112, Smith and Jack Perry at 119, Crocker and Derek Sharp at 125, McCaslin and Chris Farris at 130, KC Hanscam at 135, Daniel Smith at 140, Pitts at 145, Knight and Sawyer Anderson at 152, Brandon Lawson and Brad Pitts at 160, Cory Ottre at 171, Helfrich at 189, and Matt Parker and Ethan Rowe at 215.

Sweet Home dominated the lower weights in particular, as Tagle defeated Grove 11-2 in the 103-pound final, Danny Johnson defeated Casey Johnson 7-0 at 112 pounds, and Jake Smith upset teammate Jack Perry 6-4 in triple overtime in the 119-pound division. Andrew Knight and Sawyer Anderson, who have each spent time on the varsity this year, faced off in the 152-pound final, Knight pinning his teammate in 1:11.

“I’m really proud of the efforts of all of our guys,” Thorpe said. “To double up in four weights is an achievement. These are the same guys you wrestle in practice.”

Despite the Huskies’ familiarity with their opponents, some of the best matches of the finals were Sweet Home vs. Sweet Home. Thorpe said he was particularly impressed by Smith’s triple-overtime victory.

“Jack had a tough loss, but he can learn from that,” Thorpe said of Perry, who has generally filled the varsity spot this season, ahead of his teammate.

Thorpe said other particularly notable performances were McCaslin’s defeat of highly ranked Philomath veteran Russell Hutchens in the 130-pound final, Rob Helfrich’s 11-1 defeat of Lorin Lynch at 189 pounds and Nick Pitts’ pin of Newport’s Justin Doyle at 1:23 in the 145-pound final.

Nick Pitts gets a fall in the final he’s had a great year so far, but the year ain’t over,Thorpe said.

“I’m just as proud of the third-place guys who wrestled with a lot of heart. Brad Pitts won three matches that he shouldn’t have won and qualified for the state tournament.”

Thorpe said the next step is to focus on the state tournament.

Val-Co District Tournament

(Top 3 qualify for state)

103 – (1) Taylor Tagle (SH), (2) Mitch Grove (SH), (3) Allen Neufeld (P), (4) Patrick Ryan (T), (5) Blake Woosley (P), Randy Gaul (N).

112 – (1) Danny Johnson (SH), Casey Johnson (SH), (3) Marcus Hartwig (P), (4) Joseph Cox (T), (5) Daniel Card (N), (6) Sean Langley (T).

119 – (1) Jake Smith (SH), (2) Jack Perry (SH), (3) Travis Williams (P). (4) Ian Soifakis (N).

125 – (1) Brock Crocker (SH), (2) Robin Hethorn (C); (3) Dereck Sharp (SH), (4) Roberto Baney (C), (5) Tyler Anke (P).

130 – (1) Joe McCaslin (SH), (2) Russell Hutchins (P), (3) Chris Farris (SH), (4) Cody Cox (T), (5) Danny Lekberg (N), (6) Chris Phipps (N).

135 – Kyle Beatty (T), (2) KC Hanscam (SH), (3) Derek Rardin (C), (4) Kyle Dalke (P), (5) Max McLean (C), (6) Kevin Yeung (SH).

140– (1) Jeremy Keenan (N), (2) Daniel Smith (SH), (3) Martin Saldana (C), (4) Manuel Garcia (C).

145 – (1) Nick Pitts (SH), (2) Justin Doyle (N), (3) Bryce Dryden (P), (4) Robert Callagan (SH), (5) Seth Biester (C), (6) Thomas Eveler (P).

152 – (1) Andrew Knight (SH), (2) Sawyer Anderson (SH), (3) Derrick Calder (P), (4) Nick Smith (N), (5) JJ Oliveros (C), 6) Tony Cuevas (C).

160 – (1) Matt Hill (P), (2) Brandon Lawson (SH), (3) Brad Pitts (SH), (4) Henry Vaughn (P), (5) Jared Palmer (T), (6) Michael Hazen (C).

171 – (1) Kolt Gunter (P), (2) Cory Ottre (SH), (3) Tracy Hearne (N), (4) Sam Watson (P), (5) Anthony Albright (SH), (6) Larry Liggett (N).

189 – (1) Rob Helfrich (SH), (2) Lorin Lynch (N), (3) James Zook (P), (4) Marc Callagan (SH), (5) Chris Crazybull (C).

215 – (1) Heath Honeyutt (P), (2) Matt Parker (SH), (3) Ethan Rowe (SH), (4) Erik Anaya (C), (5) Ben Trask (P), (6) Adrien Leis (N).

285 – (1) Travis Spencer (P), (2) Marcus Cuellar (C), (3) Freddie Jiminez (C), (4) Ben Chavez (N), (5) Forrest Parker (P), (6) Kyle Holmes (SH).

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