Middle school wrestlers compete in district meet

Sisters Middle School wrestling took all 19 of its wrestlers to the Middle School District Wrestling Meet, held at Redmond High School last weekend.

There were 12 middle schools participating this year: Crook County, Obsidian, High Desert, Culver, Pilot Butte, Jefferson County, Elton Gregory, Sky View, La Pine, Sisters, Cascade and Three Rivers.

The tournament had 22 weight classes with 32-man brackets starting at 70 pounds up to heavyweight (anyone over 215 pounds). A total of 328 kids participated.

Sisters had six wrestlers place this weekend: 75-pound sixth grader Hunter Rychener took fourth; 110-pound seventh grader Shane Cormalis took seventh place; 125-pound eighth grader Sam Walker took third place; 130-pound eighth grader Porter Ford took sixth place; 152-pound seventh grader Zach Jones took eighth place; 189-pound eighth grader Kord Strickland took fifth place.

"Out of the six placers, it was the first year of wrestling for four of them," said Coach John Downs. "I am very proud of all 19 wrestlers."

The rest of the team included Alec Gannon, Dyut Fetrow, Chance Beckwith, Austin Bendel, Dustin Brightham, Isaac Mackenzie, Landon Prescott, Ronnie Carroll, Kyle Strickland, Kyler Bell, Conner Gellings, Tyler Surface and Rory Petterson.

"They all worked very hard this year, and especially these last two days. I have never seen them wrestle harder," Downs said. "I would like to thank all the parents for their never-ending support, especially my volunteer coaches. Also, I'd like to mention I feel the officiating did a great job for such a large tournament."

Next up for the SMS wrestling team is the state qualifiers. Ten to 12 wrestlers will shoot for a spot in the state tourney.