Two Creswell Bulldog wrestlers earned bids to state during the Special District 2 District Championships, hosted by Pleasant Hill on Feb. 16. Alex Metteer placed second at 120 pounds and Rogelio Legorreta placed second at 195 pounds. The top three in each weight class advance to state.
But there was heartbreak, too, as some Bulldogs who seemed confidently state-bound – particularly Logan Johnson, the state’s second-ranked wrestler at 145 pounds – saw their state hopes slip through their fingers.
In his third/fourth-place match, Johnson dropped an 8-12 decision to Lance Vanhoose, a wrestler he’d narrowly beaten earlier this season.
”We definitely lost matches we should’ve won,” said Head Coach Wayne Roberts. ”Coming out of the district seeding meeting Friday night, I felt this team was in the best position of any I’ve ever had in terms of our opportunity for getting kids to state. But we didn’t come out and wrestle tough; there was a lack of focus and motivation. It was an important life lesson that just didn’t go our way.”
With a 16-11 decision over Austin Bradford of Santiam Christian in his first match, Metteer ”got redemption,” Roberts noted, for an earlier Oregon Classics loss to Bradford.
In the 120-pound championship match, Metteer lost by major decision, 0-13, to the district’s top seed, third-ranked Jacob Jarvis of Yamhill-Carlton.
In the 195-pound championship match, Legorreta lost by first-round pin to top-ranked Leithan Briggs of Harrisburg.
Johnson placed fourth. Before losing the three/four match, he lost to Charles Conrad of Pleasant Hill, 8-12; pinned Eli Cummins of Santiam Christian in 20 seconds; and pinned Chase Couch of Yamhill Carlton in nine seconds.
At 160, Nick Kubishta placed fourth after first losing to top seed Asher Ruchti of Pleasant Hill; then earning what Roberts termed ”a huge win,” 12-6, over Vandon Haugen of Santiam Christian; then dropping the three/four match to Logan Parrish of Pleasant Hill.
”After he beat (Haugen), we thought we really had a chance with Nick to go to state,” Roberts said.
Josiah Lee placed fourth at 126. He lost to top seed Chance Hendrickson of Harrisburg; defeated teammate Jurny Halvorson 8-5; then lost the three/four match to Kade Mask of Scio, by third-round pin.
Miguel Lopez placed fourth at 120 and Corbin Allison placed fourth at 285.
At 106, Hannah Bettis scored a second-round pin over Brady Corrigan of Yamhill-Carlton before being pinned in 30 seconds by top-seeded Russell Talmadge of Harrisburg; she was then pinned by Lawson Setzer of Santiam Christian.
In his final match at 132, Jaxson Wilkerson, who has battled injuries this season, was up 6-3 over Hunter Zeiher of Scio when Zeiher caught him in a head-and-arm move and pinned him.
Up to that point, ”Jaxson was doing everything right; he had the match,” Roberts said. ”It was a horrible way to go out, caught by a basic move like that, but wrestlers live or die by the head-and-arm.”
Also at 132, Ayden Stubbs pinned Shiloh Gallaher of Santiam Christian but lost to Jake Pray of Pleasant Hill and Cole Norwood of Yamhill-Carlton.
The Bulldogs’ disappointing overall performance at districts ”has been a very hard pill to swallow,” Roberts said, for coaches and wrestlers alike. But the team must now shake it off and turn their attention to prepping teammates Metteer and Legorreta for the OSAA 3A Wrestling State Championships, to be held Feb. 22-23 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
Follow Metteer and Legorreta’s progress through the 3A state wrestling brackets at http://www.osaa.org/activities/wre/brackets (click on 3A-120 and 3A-195 in left-side bracket menu).
