John Downs steps in as new wrestling coach

John Downs has been named Sisters High School's (SHS) new head wrestling coach and is hard at work planning for the season ahead.

Downs has a big list of accomplishments under his belt. He took fourth in league his senior year at Neah-Kah-Nie High School and went on to place fourth at the AAU Regional Wrestling Championships. He was also a Pacific Northwest Freestyle Champion, which qualified him to compete in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic

trials.

Downs started his coaching career right out of high school and coached wrestling with his dad in 1992 at Neah-Kah-Nie High School.

His next stint was here in Sisters for the 2008-2009 season. Downs assisted Jeff Smith, who was at that time the head wrestling coach at SHS. From there, John took over as coach at Sisters Middle School and coached there until he accepted the job as head wrestling coach at the high school.

Downs told The Nugget that his top priority will be to develop the program as a whole from "mat club" which is for first graders up through seniors in high school.

"I can't do this alone," said Downs. "It will take a lot of parental and community involvement. With the extra coaches we'll be able to assist Jeff (Smith) at the middle school. We're going to have some practices together and I'm going to have some of my high school wrestlers work with and teach the middle schoolers."

Downs also hopes to increase interest in wrestling at the high school, would like to see girls on the squad and work to get the roster numbers up. John is definitely excited about the season ahead.

"We're a young team and I've no expectation of winning league or state, but I'm very excited to build the program with my vision and my team's vision," said Downs. "I have high hopes the team will be successful, which to me is having fun on the team, having successful self-discipline and good sportsmanship."

Joining Downs is a championship level coaching staff, all of which are volunteers, including Damian Duran, Jeff Smith, Jeremy Moyer and Peggy Frye.

Duran went undefeated in wrestling his senior year at Nipomo High School in Southern California and went on to become league champion. He was also Tri-County Champion and placed in the top 10 at the California Freestyle State Championships. Duran will help coach the smaller weight classes and will assist with conditioning.

Smith earned a second-place finish at state, was fourth at the NCAA championships, is a college All-American and a Hall of Famer for Oregon State University. Smith will help at SHS as a mentor and will concentrate his efforts on leg work.

Moyer wrestled for the Outlaws as a heavyweight and placed second at state his junior year, which qualified him to be on the Junior Nationals Team. The team went to regionals and nationals in North Dakota. Jeremy took 11th at Regionals and 17th at Nationals. He was invited to practice and train for the 1996 Olympic trials in Colorado Springs but got sick and was unable to attend. Moyer will concentrate his coaching efforts on the heavyweights.

Peggy Frye won six state championships (one team, four individual in girls division and one individual in boys division). Frye is a two-time high school All-American, a three-time National Champion, was a silver medalist at the Women's World Championships in Sweden and twice qualified to attend the Olympic training camp in Colorado Springs. Frye will concentrate her efforts on advanced moves and throws.

Downs said, "Our coaching staff has a great array of talent, and all aspects of wrestling should be reached and participants should excel."

Jeff Smith donated his pay through SPRD to the high school wrestling program.

"Jeff's donation made it possible to keep the wrestling program going at the high school at least for another year, and hopefully fundraising will keep it going in the future," said

Downs.

Downs and his wife Alycia, along with their two children, Cheyenne (16) and Chayce (13) have lived in Sisters for the past five years. Alycia grew up in Sisters and has lived here since she was 8 years old.