It was a grueling week for the Creswell Bulldogs wrestling team; in their first week back from winter break, the Dawgs hosted Churchill, Cottage Grove and South Eugene for a four-way dual on Jan. 9, and traveled to the Sutherlin Tournament on Jan. 12, finding some success and suffering some tough losses along the way.
”Our team right now is riddled with injuries, and we suffered a devastating loss when Hannah Bettis dislocated her elbow at the dual,” said Creswell Head Coach Wayne Roberts. ”Hannah may be out for the season – and she’s on track to maybe be our first girl wrestler to place at state. That’s a big blow for her as a senior, and for the team.”
Before her injury, Bettis helped the Bulldogs score a 60-12 victory over South Eugene and a 60-17 win over Churchill.
Winning matches against South Eugene were Jurny Halvorson, by second-round pin at 126 pounds; Carlie Prosser, by second-round pin at 126; and Logan Johnson, by second-round pin at 152.
Earning forfeits were Julianne Kersgaard at 106, Bettis at 113, Hugo Taura at 120, Miguel Lopez at 132, Nick Kubishta at 160 and Rogelio Legorreta at 195. There were double forfeits at 170 and 285.
Dropping matches were Ayden Stubbs and Corbin Allison.
Sam Kenworthy lost a 145-pound exhibition match by third-round pin.
For the girls against Churchill, Bettis won by first-round pin at 115 pounds and Carley Wilkerson got pinned at 125.
Winning varsity matches against Churchill were Lopez, by third-round pin at 132; Prosser, by first-round pin at 138, Johnson, by second-round pin at 152; Kubishta, by second-round pin at 160; and Legorreta, by second-round pin at 182.
Earning forfeits were Kersgaard at 106, Bettis at 113, Stubbs at 145, Javier Fregoso at 195 and Allison at 220. There was a double forfeit at 170 and Creswell forfeited at 285.
Juan Bautista lost by pin at 120 and Alex Metteer lost by tech fall at 126.
Kenworthy lost an exhibition match at 138 and Allison lost an exhibition match to the projected 5A state champion, Jay DeFond at 285.
Going into the Cottage Grove dual, ”our team atmosphere was fantastic – especially after beating Churchill,” Roberts said. ”We were firing on all cylinders, aggressive on the mats, and that was good to see. But we had a couple of early losses and our momentum slowed.”
Creswell fell 18-66 to their 4A rival, ”but it was a fun atmosphere,” Roberts said, noting that the two teams, which don’t compete against each other at districts or state, have launched a friendly ”Stanley Cup” rivalry, named for brothers Jake and Josh Stanley, assistant coaches at Creswell and Cottage Grove, respectively.
Whichever team wins when they meet each year gets custody of a pro-wrestling style victory ”belt” until the following year.
Winning against Cottage Grove were Prosser, by first-round pin at 145 pounds; and Allison, by first-round pin at 220: his first win of the season. ”It was huge that it came before a home crowd,” Roberts said.
Bautista collected a forfeit at 120.
Losing matches were Kersgaard at 106, Metteer at 126, Lopez at 132, Stubbs at 138, Johnson at 152, Kubishta at 160 and Fregoso at 195.
Creswell forfeited at 113, after Bettis was injured during the match; at 170; and at 285.
In the Varsity Tournament at Sutherlin, Metteer placed second at 120 pounds, Johnson placed third at 152, Halvorson placed fifth at 126 and Lopez placed sixth at 126.
Going 0-2 were Giovanni Vazquez at 120, Stubbs at 138, Kubishta at 152 and Legorreta at 182.
In the Girls’ Tournament, Brielle Brick went 3-0 to win the 135-pound bracket; Kersgaard placed second at 100; Wilkerson went 0-3 at 125 and Guinevere Devore was 0-3 at 130.
In Novice Tournament crab pools, Bautista went 3-0 to place first at 120 pounds, Josiah Lee placed second at 126, Zach Padilla placed third at 160, Allison placed third at 220, Kenworthy placed fourth at 138 and Fregoso placed fourth at 195.
This week, the Bulldogs travel to Redmond for the prestigious annual Oregon Classics.
”The Classics is a big team-bonding experience, and I think we’ll do pretty decent,” Roberts said. ”We’ll be competing with about 16 3A teams; about 90 percent of all the schools in the state are at that tournament, so we’ll get to see teams we normally wouldn’t see until state, and it’s good to get those looks.”
