The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Sisters High School played host to the annual GFP Outlaw Invite on Saturday, December 16 with mixed results. The girls tied for eighth among 13 teams, while the boys took ninth among 14 teams.

For the girls, the Outlaws picked up two third places, a fourth, and a fifth among the four who competed. 

Kisten Elbek scored 12 points for the team on her way to third place in the 151-174 pound class. Elbek dropped her first match of the day to Ambar Benito, but came back with a pair of wins to finish the day. She won by fall over Autumn Haney-Gibler of Redmond and managed the same over April Lopez of Crane. (Fall times were not recorded in the results).

Brooklynn Cooper started off with a win over North Marion's Yaritza Ordonez then lost to Kayla Manely in the second round. Joey Dean of Caldera pinned Cooper in the next round, but Cooper ended on an up note with a win over Kayla McCarthy of Summit. 

Sierra Jaschke lost her opening match to Gracie Baker of Crane and notched her only win of the day over Emilee Foust of Gilchrist. She lost her next match to Amy Alaniz (North Marion) before forfeiting her scheduled match against Julia Wolfe (Madras). 

Pidge Henderson finished 0-3 on the day in the 120-129 weight class, with losses to  Henley Mayfield (Redmond), Jordan Magdalena Moreno (Summit), and Esther Pastrana (North Marion). 

Redmond won the team title with 66 points to edge La Pine (62), while Sisters scored 25. 

Sean Moffett (113), got things off to a good start for the Outlaws at the outset of the tournament in his first contests following a bye in round one. Moffett muscled a fall over Zakk Fossier of North Marion at the 1:09 mark of the match. A loss in the next round against Kempton Richardson of Burns (fall 0:32) sent Moffett to the consolation round where he lost by fall (2:40) to Griffin Miller of Caldera. Moffett ended with a win in the fifth -lace match with a fall over Quenton DeEstrella of Junction City (2:56).

In the 126-pound class, Carter Van Meter placed third after going 3-1 on the day. He took a 9-6 decision over Rowdy Ware of Crook County before falling to Jayden Esquiro of Madras (0:51). He then won a 7-0 decision over Tylar Wingfield of Junction City and took down Ware for the second time, this time by fall at the  5:13 mark, to secure third.

"Carter is off to a great start this season and is now 10-5 on the season," said Coach David Kemp. "He's one of our captains and has been a great example of hard work and positivity in the practice room and competition."

Scott Henderson (190) also placed third by going 3-1, following the same pattern as Van Meter. After a bye Henderson made quick work of Sergio Barba of North Marion (0:51) before facing off with Easton Kemper of Burns. Kemper prevailed with a fall (1:26) sending Henderson to the consolation round, where he won by fall over Isaiah Pacheco of Redmond (2:21). Henderson then took down Barba for the second time (1:14) for third place. 

Tyson Kemp (150) ended up in fifth place with a 2-2 record for the day. Kemp opened with a fall over Finn Hesiak of Summit (1:36) but lost a battle with Jose Vera of Caldera after 5:26. He then dispatched Lance Bezdek of Redmond (2:12), but didn't have enough to beat Cannon Kemper of Burns in the third- place match (1:40).

Jace Owens had his work cut out for him after losing his first match of the day at 1:42 to Bruce Bankhead of North Marion. He then had to work through the consolation round, where he beat  Julius Spino of Madras (3:54) and Joey Menard of Cascade Christian (3:00). Anongba Ayeliya of Redmond sent Owens to the fifth-place match with a fall (1:26), where Owens took down Ian Colquhoun of Caldera (4:55). 

Jake Beutler (144) and Jackson Spor (215), both in their first season of wrestling, each went 0-2 on the day, showing further improvement, according to Coach Kemp.

"I've got to give these guys a lot of credit for coming in with such limited experience and taking on varsity wrestlers face to face," he said. "They are both showing a lot of growth and heart."

Burns won the meet with  184 points, just six ahead of second-place North Marion. Sisters ended with 78 total points. 

The girls are scheduled to compete at Madras Wednesday, December 20, followed by the boys the following day and both squads will travel to Burns for a tournament on December 29.