Wrestlers bring home first-place trophy

The wrestling team earned a first-place finish at the Gilchrist Invitational Tournament on Saturday, December 6. The Outlaws took top honors above five other Central Oregon schools and beat second-place Bonanza 105-77.

It was a tie match between the top two teams as they entered the finals.

Five Sisters wrestlers including Tyler Olgilvie (119 pounds), Joe Haugen (125 pounds), Hick Head (145 pounds), Dylan Mackenzie (152 pounds), and Thomas Schantz (189 pounds) all earned first-place finishes.

Ogilvie earned valuable team points as the only entrant at 119 pounds. Haugen started the run of victories in the finals by pinning Jara of Bonanza in 49 seconds. Jara got the initial takedown in the finals, but Haugen earned the reversal and flattened his opponent.

Head extended the Outlaw lead with a 7-5 win over Clark of Chiloquin. Earlier in the day Head had pinned Dupris of Chiloquin and Smith of Bonanza.

Coach Jeff Smith told The Nugget that the most exciting match of the day was between Dylan Mackenzie and Meyer of North Lake. Mackenzie fell behind 2-1 after the first period, but then opened with a 3-2 lead in the second period with a takedown. Meyer reversed Mackenzie to his back early in the third period to take a 6-3 lead. With less than a minute left in the match, Mackenzie returned the favor with a reversal and fall to end the match and claim the victory.

Mackenzie pinned two other opponents earlier in the day to advance to the finals.

At 180 pounds, Schantz dominated two opponents to claim the medal. Schantz pinned Hatcher of Gilchrist to advance to the finals and then defeated his Bonanza opponent 16-6 in the final match.

Three other Outlaws placed in the top four. Aaron Fegenbush (160 pounds) and Mike Epps (215 pounds) both earned third-place finishes. Fegenbush was 3-1 on the day and Epps earned two falls to go along with a single defeat. In his first wrestling competition, Benton Urquhart placed fourth at 152 pounds.

Smith stated that Urquhart barely missed a third-place finish with a narrow 8-7 finish in the finals.

Smith was very pleased with his team's performance.

"This was a great team effort," said Smith. "Every one of our experienced wrestlers met their expectations. Each of our top-seeded wrestlers prevailed. I was heartened by the performance of the guys who are new to the sport of wrestling. They made some costly mistakes, but far fewer mistakes than you'd expect from their first competition."

The Outlaws will compete at the Culver Invitational December 12-13.