Outlaws compete in freestyle challenge

Coach John Downs took some Outlaws wrestlers to Hood River Valley High School to compete in the Gorge Freestyle Challenge - and they performed well.

Freestyle wrestling is Olympic-style wrestling. Wrestling in the United States is folkstyle, where stalling is not allowed; freestyle allows stalling on bottom for 10 seconds, and if nothing happens then the wrestlers start again.

Freestyle also has two three-minute rounds instead of three two-minute rounds. There are more throws in freestyle competition.

"Freestyle is very fast-paced," Downs told The Nugget. "This is a great way for wrestlers (boys and girls) with aspirations to wrestle in college to build their skill level. Even though college is folkstyle wrestling, coaches at the college level scout for wrestlers that aspire to reach World and Olympic levels.

"We had freshman Tyler Surface and Andrew Stevens take second-place honors, and fourth-grader Lila Magnuson placed fourth. This was their first freestyle wrestling tournament and it was a very successful day. Lila may have taken fourth, but she scored eight points to only lose by four points to one of her opponents, who eventually took first place."

Andrew Stevens did very well, pinning one of his opponents in the second round to earn his second-place medal. It was his first career wrestling medal.

Tyler Surface wrestled a few matches, earning two wins; one by pin to take home his hardware.

The Outlaws Mat Club will be having meets every weekend in April, with the Freestyle State Championships on the first weekend of May.