Six wrestlers place at Districts

Six wrestlers placed at the District Tournament which was held at Cottage Grove on Friday and Saturday, February 9 and 10.

Nick Head (135 pounds) and Thomas Schantz (171 pounds) both took third place and will advance to the State Tournament next week.

Head defeated Tyler Stahlnecker of La Pine 9-3 in his first match of the tournament. In the second match, Tyler was pinned by Billy Dunn of Cottage Grove, who took fourth place at state last year. Head went on to defeat teammate Ben Freeland 16-4 in his third match. In the consolation finals Tyler pinned Keith Gamble of La Pine in 1:15. Tyler took down Gamble with a double leg tackle to record the fall.

Schantz pinned R. J. Fivecoats of La Pine in 5:14 in his first match of the tourney and then lost to Brent Muth of Cottage Grove, who went on to win the tournament. Schantz came back in his third match to defeat Hank Smyth of Junction City (JC) by decision 18-2. In the consolation match, Thomas beat Jesse Heniger of JC 5-1.

"Thomas escaped easily in the second period and took Heniger down by countering a double leg tackle of Heniger. Thomas was in control throughout the entire match," said Coach Jeff Smith.

Cody Johns (130 pounds) took fourth place. Johns just came off a six-week leg injury and with the fourth place finish just missed a return appearance at the State Tournament. Johns was ahead of senior Chris Eggleston of La Pine when he was reversed to his back and pinned.

Dylan Mackenzie (140 pounds) was the surprise of the tournament for the Outlaws. Mackenzie wrestled Shane Person, the number four seed from Pleasant Hill, in his first and fourth match of the tourney. Dylan pinned Mackenzie in both matches, recording the fall each time in the first round with a head and arm. Mackenzie was pinned by Jake Stanley (league champ) of Cottage Grove in 2:35 in the second match and then pinned by James Williams of Cottage Grove in 1:01 in the consolation semi's.

Ben Freeland (135 pounds) and Gilbert Porraz (145 pounds) both finished in sixth place.

Freeland wrestled Sheldon Walker, the number three seed from Cottage Grove in his opening match. At one point, Freeland was trailing Walker 10-1 but came back to pin Walker at 4:35.

"Ben never stops competing," said Smith. "He was down 15-13 when he recorded the fall."

In the match for fifth or sixth place, Freeland was defeated 6-4 by Stahlnecker of La Pine.

Porraz pinned Jared Ramos of Junction City in 1:06 in the consolation quarterfinals. Porraz was pinned in 3:41 by Robby Manning of La Pine in his final match of the tournament.

"This was a good tournament for us," said Smith. "We won every match we were expected to win and several others when we faced wrestlers seeded above us. We had three falls against seeded wrestlers by unseeded Sisters wrestlers, and each of our seeded wrestlers placed at or above their seed."

Looking ahead to the State Tournament, Smith thinks his wrestlers will win matches.

"The State Tournament is so unpredictable with some great wrestlers from throughout the state, but I think each of our wrestlers will win matches at the State Tournament. If they wrestle well at the right time, either wrestler could place among the top eight."