Wrestlers compete at regionals

Sisters brought 21 grapplers to compete at the Regional Championships held at Elmira on Friday and Saturday, February 19 and 20, and earned a 10th-place finish.

Sweet Home wrestlers dominated the mat and took first place with a team total of 376 points. North Marion was runner-up with 304 and Cascade took third with 249.

Two Outlaws, seniors Dyut Fetrow and Zach Reid, finished third and fourth respectively, which earned them both a berth to the state championships.

Fetrow (138 pounds) was seeded fifth and had 21 wrestlers in his weight class. Due to the high number, Dyut had to wrestle in a pigtail match, and had to win in order to get a good spot in the bracket.

Dyut won by a fall in 3:22 against Amerson of Yamhill-Carlton in the pigtail match, and went on to pin Dylan Donnell of Philomath in 1:18 in his first match of bracket competition.

In his second match, Fetrow pinned No. 4 seed Alec Roberts of North Marion in 3:13. In the next match, Fetrow faced No. 1 seed Joe Rasmussen of Sweet Home, which was his toughest match of the tournament. Dyut went all three rounds but lost in a 9-4 decision.

"That was the best match I've ever seen Dyut wrestle," said Coach John Downs. "He gave everything he had, and was so exhausted at the end of the match he could barely stand up."

The loss sent Fetrow into the consolation semis where he matched up against Connor Kelly of Cascade. Dyut pinned Kelly in 1:50, which qualified him for the third/fourth-place match. Dyut wrestled No. 3 seed Rodney Chamberlain of Cottage Grove, battled hard all three rounds, earned the win in a 8-6 decision. The win earned him a third-place finish.

"It was a super-exciting match," said Downs. "Dyut was seeded fifth and Chamberlain was seeded third, and they both had good skills. Dyut had much better cardio, and he had a lot of strength left, and scored two points on a take-down and won the match."

Of his performance Fetrow said, "I feel really excited about qualifying for state. I've worked really hard and it's a big accomplishment. It also means a lot to the coaches to see how far we've come. I just want to go to state and enjoy it and if I place, I place, and if not, that's okay, too."

Reid eared a fourth-place finish, which also qualified him for the state championships next weekend.

Zach (132 pounds) had to face No. 1 seed Casey Roberts of North Marion in his very first match of the tourney. Reid went a full round with Roberts, but then lost by a fall in 2:54.

"Zach wasn't even seeded, and he did very well against a good wrestler," said Downs.

The loss sent Reid into the consolation bracket, which is always tough. A wrestler has to come back and win four matches to make it to the consolation finals.

Reid did just that, and pinned his next four opponents. Zach pinned Dakota Elliott of Cascade in 2:52; pinned Travis Hodgson of Junction City, who was seeded fifth, in 1:42; and pinned Nathan Payne of Yamhill-Carlton in 2:27. Zach realized that the next match was critical, and that a win would guarantee him a berth to state. Reid did a tremendous job and pinned Wyatt Haverstitch of North Marion, the No. 3 seed, in 3:02.

In the finals, Reid went up against Quinn Legner from Cascade, and lost in 3:15 by a fall. The loss gave him a fourth-place finish, which still qualified him for state.

"I was surprised at how well he did, especially after his loss to the No. 1 seed," said Downs. "I was glad to see him come back and win four straight pins to get to the finals. He was on-point with every move he ran. He didn't have to pause and think about it. His speed was one of the things that helped him the most. He moved quickly and didn't give his opponent time to react to his move. It's a great way to be successful."

Reid commented, "I thought I did very well on both Friday and Saturday. The matches were some of my hardest matches this year. In the beginning of the season, I made a goal to go to state, so when I knew I'd made it to state, I was very excited."

Sophomore Brady Wessell also had a great performance. For the first half of the season, Wessell wrestled on the JV squad, but when a varsity spot opened up midway through, Wessell stepped in and filled the 220-pound weight class on varsity.

Wessell won his first match of the tournament with a pin in 2:38 over Brenton Lewis of Yamhill-Carlton. The pin marked his third pin of the season.

In his second match, Wessell faced No. 1 seed Louie Sanchez of Cascade, who Downs described as "a beast of a guy." Brady lost by a fall in 1:00 to the veteran grappler.

Wessell went into the consolation bracket, and pinned Dustin LaFarge of North Marion in 58 seconds.

"That was an amazing match to see," said Downs. "Brady got after LaFarge and got a quick pin. Brady is super-strong. His weight-lifting has really benefited him. It was difficult for his opponents to do leg take-downs on him due to his leg strength."

In his final match, Wessell lost in 2:20 by a fall to John Dover of Junction City.

"It was pretty great for Brady to get two wins, and both of them pins, at the Regional Championships as a sophomore," said Downs. "It's a tough weight bracket with such strong guys, and going against juniors and seniors, it was great he went that far."

Wessell tied for a seventh-place finish.

Downs commented on how he felt about the championships.

"Personally, I was a little sad," said Downs. "I thought more guys would have qualified, especially since fifth place qualified for state this year. But we have the toughest region for 4A in the whole state. There are 12 teams, and four of them have the top wrestlers in the state in each weight class. That's especially true of Sweet Home and North Marion. The Huskies will take 16 of their 26 wrestlers to state and North Marion will take 13. So, I hurt alongside my guys. It's sad to see them lose when they had such a drive to win."

Fetrow and Reid will attend the state championships, which will be held at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland on Friday and Saturday, February 26-27.