King goes undefeated at wrestling classic

The Outlaws’ big man, Damien King, went undefeated at the two-day Oregon Wrestling Classic in Redmond last weekend, leading a small but competitive Outlaws squad.

The Classic is a large 16-team duals meet with the Outlaws competing in six separate duals. Due to the small size of the squad, the Outlaws forfeited six weight classes to each team that they wrestled.

“Even though we forfeited those six weight classes, the wrestlers had a great weekend individually and with their individual successes, we were able to win two of the five duals,” Coach John Downs reported. (See results below.)

“It was a great weekend to watch the wrestlers compete,” Downs said. “They showed lots of improvement and were using more automatic moves than in the past when they would have to think about what to use.”

Sophomore Wyatt Maffey (132 pounds) did very well representing the Outlaws at the varsity level. He ended the weekend with a 3-3 record featuring some great matches. At the 138 weight class Senior Anthony Randolph finished the weekend at 4-2.

“This was the second week in this new weight class for Anthony and he seems to be settling in nicely,” Downs said.

Junior Chaz Patterson stepped up to help the Outlaws at the 145-pound weight class. Patterson only weighed 138 pounds, but he wanted to wrestle in the tournament and so he bumped up to compete and ended with a 2-4 record. Senior Dillon King had some tough matches but was able to win the majority of them and he ended at 4-2.

“He had a couple matches that went all three rounds and I was proud of him to push through even though he was tired,” Downs said.

First-year wrestler sophomore Jared Miller had to step into the varsity 160-pound weight class. He wrestled tough but just didn’t have the experience to win a few of his matches, ending his weekend at 1-5.

“I told Jared that I would rather have an opponent earn a win than give them a forfeit, and I was glad to have him in the lineup for us this weekend,” Downs said.

At 195 pounds, the Outlaws had Senior Ethan Martin, who has continued building his winning record. He won five of his six matches and he is starting to focus on the District and State Championships a month away.

“The one loss was good for him,” Downs said. “It reminded him that he needs to keep making progress in practices and that nothing is guaranteed.”

The tough 220-pound freshman Henry Rard had his best tournament, ending the weekend 3-3.

King’s undefeated 6-0 run was the highlight of the weekend.

“Damien still is about 250 pounds wrestling in the 285-pound weight class and seems to be getting better every week,” Downs said.

He was even able to pin the Sweet Home 285-pounder, who had placed fourth at state last year.

“This was Damien’s best match of the year and I hope he realizes what he can accomplish and starts pushing harder in practice to get himself to the state championship level,” Downs said.

At the end of the weekend the Outlaws compiled a total of 28 individual wins out of 48 matches.

Tyler “Daisy” Patterson competed in the Girl’s Dual Tournament and she was recruited to be a part of the Central Oregon Girls Team, which was made up of wrestling girls from the many Central Oregon schools. She competed in the 125-pound weight class.

“This was a great opportunity for her to be a part of an all-girls team and also be the varsity girl at 125 pounds,” Downs said. “Daisy was able to end her weekend with a 2-2 record. She had some good matches and it was exciting to watch the other girls on the Central Oregon team root for her!”