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Wrestling: Larger schools don’t faze Huskies at NW Duals

One thing’s sure about the Northwest Duals wrestling tournament held Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 28-29, at the Linn County Expo Center: You’re going to get plenty of matches.

That’s why it’s on Sweet Home’s schedule each year and, Coach Steve Thorpe said, “I think it worked out pretty well. The kids got mat time they needed.”

And they did well, considering the 36-team boys tournament included just three teams that weren’t either 5A or 6A Division-sized schools: Sweet Home, Cascade and Willamina.

The Husky boys varsity finished fourth, and the girls were second in the 16-team women’s tournament, in which they were the only school in the 4A/3A/2A/1A division in which they will wrestle at state.

“The caliber of the wrestlers doesn’t change, but how many do you get to pick from in a school of 600 versus a school of 2,000?” Thorpe noted. “That’s a big difference. I’m darn proud of what we did there.”

The Huskies started with a handicap when some of their wrestlers uncharacteristically failed to make weight.

“That changed our lineup,” he said. “That’s not typical for us. To come away from that, one of the reasons we wrestle so much over the break is because we can learn some things.”

The boys won their pool on Day 1, then moved on to defeat Redmond 41-36 in the quarterfinals, fell to Dallas 38-25 in the semis, and finished with a 38-24 loss to West Linn in the consolation final.

Thorpe praised the leadership he’s seeing from his veterans on the team.

“We’ve seen dominating performances from Jake and Kyle Sieminski all year, but one of the most improved is Trenton Smith,” he said. “He’s silently leading and he’s 100% all in. Kaden Zajic is also wrestling very well. We’ve got a lot of guys who are doing the things they need to do.”

He also noted the performances of freshman Luke Rosa at 145 pounds – “a man’s weight,” who went 2-5 over the two days but “he helped us by lessening the amount of team points he gave up. I saw incredible improvement in what he did.”

Sweet Home actually entered two line-ups in the tournament, their JV team finishing 3-5 after a tie-breaker loss (35-35) to Dallas. The Huskies’ second team beat Franklin 49-18, McKay 43-34 and South Salem 39-34, while losing 74-3 to West Linn, 51-21 to Century, 44-33 to Edmonds-Woodway (Wash.), and 42-36 to Silverton.

Thorpe credited the performances of Kayo Ebbs, Ashton Swanson and Evan Jensen; the latter, he noted, is providing “senior leadership.”

On the girls side, the Huskies “dominated their pool,” beating what Thorpe called “quality teams.”

“They were outstanding.”

He noted that several wrestlers “very unselfishly” bumped up a weight to fill holes in the lineup for the girls.

Thorpe said juniors Kaylene Zajic and Lydia Wright are showing big improvements.

“Kaylene is becoming a better wrestler, but her mental outlook is improving so much that she’s winning, maybe, some matches that she shouldn’t.

“Lydia is just getting better. Huge performances.”

Starting this week is the second half of the season, “when the grind begins – major, major competition.”

But with the 4A loaded with teams like two-time defending champion La Grande and Crook County, which was dominant at the 5A level and has moved back to 4A, it’s necessary to be a player at state.

The Huskies will start by traveling to Tillamook Thursday, Jan. 5, for both boys and girls duals against the Cheesmakers, which also look to be among the top teams in the 4A Division.

“There’s going to be some great wrestling from here on out,” Thorpe predicted.

See more photos in our online gallery.

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