The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

The Oregon Classic, held January 12-13, attracted more than 50 teams from all Oregon classifications as one of the largest gatherings of wrestlers annually in the state. The tournament is unique in that teams pair up with other squads for a series of head to head duals, and final team results are based on which team ultimately comes out on top in the classification.

Sisters, wrestling in the 3A ranks, had mixed results at the tournament, largely due to having gaps in weight classes, resulting in forfeits.

“It’s tough to win dual if you don’t have enough weight classes covered,” said Coach David Kemp.

Carter Van Meter led the team with a 3-1 record over the weekend. He beat Markis Boehm of Sutherlin (fall 1:06) and recorded two wins by forfeit before losing to Benjamin Dinan of Banks (fall 1:06).

Tyson Kemp won his first match by fall over Aydenn Goncalves of Sutherlin (1:59), but dropped his next two matches.

Senior Jake Beutler continued his improvement according to coach David Kemp. Beutler notched two wins by pin including one against Levi Casteel of Camas Valley in just 14 seconds. He also pinned Alexzander Longbrake of Sutherlin (fall 2:33), but suffered a loss against Anthony Andre of Crane (Fall 1:32).

Scott Henderson, also senior, picked up a pair of wins against two losses. He beat Christian Medina of Banks (Fall 1:16) and Oscar Maley of Crane (fall 0:35). Jozua Miller won in his final of four matches with a pin over Aaron Barry of Crane (0:59).

Jace Owens had a busy-but-tough weekend, going 0-4 in the 167 pound class. He battled each opponent well, according to Kemp.

Three girls took part in the duals, including Brooklyn Cooper, Pidge Henderson, Kisten Elbek and Sierra Jaschke, and, although none came away with victories over their male opponent, Kemp complimented their efforts.

“These girls just want to compete and I am so proud of them for how they approach the challenge every week,” he said. “There was a girls’ division but these girls chose to stick with the rest of the team. It would have been tough to do the girls’ duals with only three kids and they helped out the program by wrestling with the boys.”

The Outlaws host a dual match on Wednesday, January 17 against Santiam starting at 6 p.m.