Wrestlers get first taste of competition at La Pine

The Outlaws wrestlers traveled to La Pine to compete in a five-way wrestling tournament on Thursday, November 29.

Kody Johns (145 pounds) turned in one of the top performances of the night and won all four of his matches.

Johns is expected to be a standout grappler this year. The junior placed second at district as a freshman and last year placed fourth following a knee injury that sidelined him most of the season. Coach Jeff Smith describes Johns as a great competitor and the most complete wrestler on the team in terms of skills, competition and willingness to learn and try new things.

At LaPine, Johns pinned Ty Slater of La Pine and Clinton Cranston of Redmond, both in the first round. In Johns' two other matches the score was tied going into the third period. Johns showed great competitiveness and worked hard to win both matches with final scores of 9-5.

Johns faced Ransom Smith of Gilcrest in his final match of the night. Smith, who took third place at state last year at the 3A level, had only wrestled one previous match, whereas Johns had wrestled three. After two periods the score was tied 3-3. In the third period Johns escaped, took Smith down and turned him for a near fall.

Coach Jeff Smith said: "Kody has good techniques and a relentless attack. He just kept after his opponents in the close matches and came out on top."

Thomas Schantz split his two matches. Schantz pinned Heath Dilley of La Pine in the second period and then fell to Tyler Wilber of Redmond in his final match.

"Thomas made several good single-leg takedowns against Dilley," said Smith, "but was unable to mount successful leg attacks against Wilber."

Canyon Bork competed in his first match ever and lost to wrestlers from La Pine, Lakeview and Redmond.

Smith said: "I was real proud of Canyon. He scored in each of his three matches, which is pretty amazing for his first night on the mats. He learned so much in the course of the night and competed more effectively each time out."

Bork joins Grant Tandy, Brittany Heagney and sophomore Cameron Valdez as new faces on the wrestling squad.

Smith told The Nugget that Bork is new to wrestling and is analytic about the moves he's learning and noted Valdez has great potential to have a breakout year.

The wrestling squad is returning six players with varsity experience under their belts: Kody Johns; Nick Head; Thomas Schantz; Ben Freeland; Gilbert Porraz; and Dylan McKenzie.

Head and Schantz (juniors) both took third in their weight class at district last year. Smith said that Head is especially quick and agile and is the most technically skilled wrestler on the squad. Smith told The Nugget that Schantz is a very strong competitor and will provide good leadership to the team this year.

Junior Ben Freeland (sixth at district) wrestles in a unique style with unusual hip movements, which seems to serve him well. Smith said that Ben is never out of a match and has won several matches after being behind late in the match.

MacKenzie (junior) had a fifth place finish at district last year and Smith noted that he pinned the No. 4 seed twice with the same move. Porraz earned a sixth place finish at district and, according to Smith, is a fierce competitor.

"Gilbert (Porraz) has some great throws and competes every second of every match," said Smith.

"This year we have limited numbers and will forfeit several weights in dual meets," said Smith. "Most of our wrestlers are in weight classes from 135 pounds to 152 pounds, so they can compete hard against one another in practice. This helps us with our primary goal, which is to have everyone place in the top six at district and have a couple of guys place at the state tournament."

Smith added: "We'll struggle a bit at the beginning of the season with several of our wrestlers still playing football."

Smith enters his third year as an unpaid volunteer coach but comes with much experience to lend to the Outlaws team. He was an NCAA All-American wrestler at Oregon State University (OSU) and a former assistant coach at both OSU and the University of Oregon. Smith will again be assisted by Tom Harris, a former wrestler at Fresno City College.

The Outlaws will square off against Junction City at home on Thursday, December 6.