Wrestlers gear up for District

The Outlaws wrestling squad took part in two competitions last week including its final big tournament in La Pine, prior to the district championships set for this coming week in Burns.

Sisters’ boys team finished in eighth place overall with 92 points among 13 scoring teams. La Pine dominated its home tourney and captured the team title with 240.5 points to easily outdistance second place Lowell.

The Outlaws had two individuals make it to the championships round in their respective weight classes at La Pine.

Tyson Kemp took down three opponents by fall on his way to the title round at 144 pounds. He beat Walter Collier of Henley (3:15), Jesse Norfleet of Summit (2:40), and Jasper Rutledge of Culver (1:25) before facing off against Devon Kerr of La Pine. The pair battled through two periods before Kerr finally got the best of Kemp at the 2:45 mark.

In the 165-pound division Jace Owens followed a similar pattern to Kemp, though he pinned his first three opponents relatively quickly. He took down Elijah Wells of Caldera (1:06), Micah Hanke of Cottage Grove (0:26), and Luke Ferry of Cottage Grove (1:31). In the championship match against Estefan Muneton of Henley, Owens battled gamely, making it well into the third period before getting pinned (3:24).

Carter Van Meter had a marathon weekend, with four total matches after a first-round bye at 126 pounds. Van Meter beat Aiden Tatsuo of Summit (1:16), but lost in the semi-final round to Kanoa Machin of La Pine in the final seconds of regulation (3:56). He moved back through the consolation bracket, soundly beating Jovanny Jaimes of Caldera (0:34) and Thadius Brown of Culver (1:15) to take third place.

Brennan Frutos,150 pounds, had the busiest schedule of all with six total matches and placed sixth. He won against Joel Taylor of Culver (4:00) and then lost quickly to Gabriel Maloney of Summit (0:43). He bounced back with two more wins in the consolation round before dropping the semi-final to Michael Noblitt of Caldera (1:04) as well as the fifth-place match to Josh Walker (1:10).

Scott Henderson (175) also placed sixth. He won his first two matches convincingly over Joseph Jennings of Mazama (0:50) and Dashel Stepp of Cottage Grove (0:12) before getting dropped by Paul Clark of Lowell in a tough match (3:55). He then had to forfeit his final two matches due to injury.

Jude Howland, Chris Roach, and Jackson Spor all took part in the tournament as well, and despite not picking up any wins, gained valuable experience according to coach David Kemp.

Sisters tied for third among 10 teams in the girls’ competition with 44 points, just behind Caldera (47). Ridgeview won the team title with 65 points.

Sierra Jaschke faced the only other competitor in the 170-187 class and took just 48 seconds to complete the pin, earning first place.

The remaining three Outlaws each took second place in their divisions.

Pidge Henderson took down Carolyn Reyna of Cottage Grove (1:19) and Tenaya Cherrick of Mazama (0:37) in her first two matches, but lost to Nova Danzig of Ridgeview in her final match (0:45) .

In the 144-156 pound bracket, Kisten Elbek dropped her first match against Riley Allison, but finished with wins over Mila Wonser of Mazama (0:42) and against Kira Gregory of Ridgeview with a close 14-13 decision.

Brooklyn Cooper also lost her first match, but pinned Alexsis Woody of Cottage Grove (0;23) and Caydence Marshall of Ridgeview (3:19) to finish the tournament on a high note.

The 3A boys Special District 4 tournament is set for Friday and Saturday February 9 and 10 in Burns. The tournament serves as the qualifier for the OSAA State Championships set for the following weekend in Portland at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum February 22-24. The top three boys wrestlers in each weight class will qualify from Special District 4.

For the girls there are two special districts from the 4A/3A/2A/1A classifications. Sisters will compete February 16 and 17 in Special District 2 at Cottage Grove High School. The top five placers at District automatically qualify for the state championships in Portland.