Wrestlers compete at Adrian Irwin Invitational

Sisters brought 15 of their 22 wrestlers to the Adrian Irwin Invitational Friday and Saturday, December 19-20 at Ridgeview High School.

Twenty-one teams participated, and at the close of the two-day tourney Redmond was crowned tournament champion. The Panthers finished with a team score of 303.5, Bend finished second at 229.5, and Nyssa was third with a score of 219.

The tourney allows two scoring wrestlers per weight class so more wrestlers were able to compete at the varsity level. Nine freshmen Outlaws stepped into varsity roles and Coach John Downs told The Nugget that the young wrestlers did an amazing job representing Sisters at a very tough tournament.

Junior Dyut Fetrow earned a fourth-place finish for the Outlaws.

Fetrow, who has been competing at the 132-pound weight class the last couple of weeks decided to go up a weight class and compete at 138 pounds.

Downs said, "He and I decided that maybe the stress of trying to stay down in weight to compete at 132 pounds was too much for his mind and physical conditioning. Our theory seemed to pay off."

Dyut struggled in his first match against Woodward of Redmond and lost 10-2, which sent him into the consolation bracket. Fetrow was determined, and wrestled back through and won five straight matches to set himself up for the third- and fourth-place match.

En-route to the third- an fourth-place match, Dyut beat second-seated Parsons from Madras 5-4, and didn't even realize he'd won the match until his hand was raised. He went on to pin the first-seated wrestler, Whitsett from Warrenton, which set him up for the third/fourth final.

In his final match Dyut lost 8-5 to Woodward, who he'd lost to at the very start of the tournament.

"Dyut definitely pushed Woodward in this match and even had the Redmond wrestler on his back, almost pinning him," said Downs. "I am most impressed though, on the matches Fetrow wrestled in the consolation bracket. Two of his opponents were the first- and second-seed wrestlers."

Junior Clayton Darst pinned two opponents for wins at the tournament to finish just short of earning a spot to wrestle for a placing match.

Wrestlers will take a break over the holidays and hit the mats again on Tuesday, January 6, in a three-way meet at home against Sutherlin and La Pine. Start time is scheduled for 6 p.m.