Wrestlers compete at invitational

The Outlaws wrestlers traveled to Culver for the annual Culver Invitational on Friday and Saturday, December 13-14. Twenty-two teams were in attendance including past state champions 2A Culver, 3A Glide High School.

Sisters had a short week of practice due to school cancellation on Monday because of severe cold conditions. Coach John Downs told The Nugget that his squad took advantage of those three days and focused and worked hard at practice to improve their skills. All wrestlers improved on their individual skills, but only Zach Reid made it to the placing rounds.

Reid (206 pounds) ended the tourney with a sixth-place finish and, according to Downs, fought hard to get there.

"Not to be outdone by his great showing last week, Reid stepped it up again and pinned his first two opponents (Neary from Nestucca in 1:33 and Lucas from Glide in 2:47) which started his journey to end up in sixth place," said Downs.

Sophomores Clayton Darst and Mark Fish both wrestle at 160 pounds. Teams can only have one scoring wrestler per weight class, and this past week Darst earned the spot. Downs stated that Fish was close on Darst's heels in his level of skill and so decided to enter Fish in the 160-pound weight class as a non-scoring wrestler.

"As a non-scoring wrestler he can knock other scoring wrestlers out of the tournament," explained Downs.

Darst and Fish progressed through the 160-pound bracket and each tallied three pins. However, they fell just short of the placing rounds.

Sisters also had two wrestlers compete at 126 pounds: sophomore Dyut Fetrow, who was fighting off pain from a groin injury and had to step out of the tourney; and freshman Andrew Steven, who according to Downs improved on his performance from last week.

Sophomore Chase Lawrence, a new addition to the team, picked up his second win of his two-week wrestling career.

The Outlaws matmen will attend the Adrian Irwin Memorial Tournament at Ridgeview High School on Friday and Saturday, December 20- 21.