Wrestlers grapple at Oregon Classic

The Oregon Wrestling Classic held January 14-15 at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds is one of the most comprehensive tournaments in the state, including over 75 teams from all OSAA classifications.

The tournament’s format places four or five teams from the same classification into pools, and those teams go head-to-head against each of the schools in the pool as dual matches through rounds. Sisters’ boys team wrestled in Pool No. 3 against Tillamook, Phoenix, Philomath, Baker/Powder Valley, and North Marion.

Sisters was missing some key members of the team due to sickness, leading to forfeits in a number of weight classes, which made it tougher to score points in the dual meet setup.

After a bye in Round 1, Sisters had a rough time against Tillamook, as Ben Cooper (145) and Wyatt Maffey (152) were the only Outlaws to take down a Cheesemaker, resulting in a 72-9 loss as a team.

“Tillamook is one of the top 4A teams in the state, and it was good for our guys to go up against such a quality opponent even though they handed us our lunch,” said coach Gary Thorson.

Round 3 turned out to be a nailbiter against Phoenix as the teams battled to a 42-42 tie against the Pirates.

Winners for Sisters included Conrad Irlam (106), Carter Van Meter (113), Carson Brown (132), Cooper, Maffey, Dolan Pool (160), and Gabe Bailey (182).

Sisters faced Philomath in Round 4, but fell 45-30 to the Warriors. Irlam, Van Meter, Cooper, Maffey, and Bailey picked up another win each, and Henry Rard (220) won with a pin for his first win of the tournament.

Baker/Powder Valley, another top 4A team, handled the Outlaws in Round 5 63-15 with Maffey and Cooper coming away with victories.

In the final dual match-up, the Outlaws took on North Marion, but couldn’t keep pace with the Huskies due to a number of forfeits and lost 41-24. However, Maffey and Cooper both won again to end the tournament undefeated. Van Meter, Brown, Tyler Patterson, Bailey, and Rard also picked up wins.

Jayden Vogt also competed over the weekend for the Outlaws at 170 pounds.

Cooper raised his season record to 25-6 and Maffey improved to 17-8.

“With four kids out, we knew going into the tournament it would be hard to win as a team in the dual-meet format, but we just emphasized to the kids that we would focus on controlling what we could control and do our best and that’s what they did,” said Thorson.

Two of the Outlaws girls competed over the weekend in what is known as a renegade tournament, in which girls without complete teams can join in with girls from other schools to form a team. Daisy Patterson and Brooklyn Cooper paired up with the Ridgeview team. Patterson went 2-2, with both wins coming from pins, while Cooper notched a 1-2 record.

The Outlaws compete twice this week with a dual- meet tournament at North Marion on Wednesday, January 19, and then on to the Barlow Tournament on Friday, January 21.