Sports Zone

Wrestlers end run at state, set sights on 2020

Both members of the Creswell Bulldogs wrestling team who competed last weekend at the OSAA 3A Wrestling State Championships went two-and-out in the tournament, but had some strong, assertive moments on the mat.
Competing at 120 pounds, junior Alex Metteer received a randomly-awarded first-round bye, then dropped a 4-11 decision to fourth-ranked Tony Cisneros, a freshman from Dayton, in the state quarterfinals.
”I thought Alex had a decent draw in the bracket, getting a first-round bye and then facing the number four seed,” said Creswell Head Coach Wayne Roberts, noting that only the four 3A district champions are seeded at state. ”He wrestled very tough in the beginning against Cisneros, but as the match continued, he started slowing the pace down and it cost us.”
Wrestling next in the Consolation bracket, Metteer was eliminated from the state competition after losing a 4-8 decision to Austin Bradford, a Santiam Christian junior.
”Alex beat Austin at districts, but Alex is usually a pretty fast-paced wrestler and this slower pace was a different style for him,” Roberts said. ”The good news is that he’s a junior; he knows what he wants and has a plan to achieve the end result he wishes, and he has another year to do it.”
In his first-round match at 195 pounds, Legorreta was pinned by Zachary Lepre, a senior from Sutherlin, in 2:32.
Moving into the Consolation bracket, Legorreta first received a bye but was then eliminated after being pinned in 2:29 by Michael Heutzenroeder, a La Pine junior.
”Rogelio came in and fought really hard against some bigger opponents; he was definitely one of the lightest in his group – especially in his first match against Lepre,” Roberts said. ”The plan was to keep his feet moving, and it was working pretty well; we were only down a point when Lepre got him in a Peterson Roll and pinned him.”
Against Heutzenroeder, ”Rogelio wrestled tough in the first round,” Roberts said, before being pinned early in the second.
Metteer and Legorreta both earned state bids by placing second in their weight classes during the Special District 2 Championships on Feb. 16. The top three in each weight class, from each district, advance to state.
With their 2019 state run ended, the Bulldogs’ attention now turns to off-season work, including freestyle wrestling, developing a middle school team and goal setting for the 2020 season.
”We were definitely one of the younger and more inexperienced teams this year, but coming up next year we’ll have a lot of guys in their third or fourth year of wrestling and that’s going to pay dividends for us – and we’re also returning the largest group in our district,” Roberts said, noting that the team will for the first time have a dedicated wrestling room in Creswell High School’s auxiliary gym.
”We’re all looking forward to putting in the work and seeing it translate to the mat,” Roberts said.

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