“(The score) shows we have a lot of quality wrestlers �” besides the returning state champs. The team has depth,” said coach Justin Eldred.
Bigger is better
Two members of the team used the tournament as an opportunity to go up two weight classes, allowing them to wrestle against bigger and stronger competitors.
n Anthony Halstead, senior, wrestles at 103 pounds. For this competition, he wrestled in the 119-pound class and won, 18-3.
n Andrew Orr, senior, wrestles at 160 pounds, but moved up to the 189-pound class, which he won, 17-2.
The tournament had other interesting matches for Reedsport, as well.
n Bryce Barnhart, sophomore, 112 pounds, pinned his opponent, Jason Alexander, of Taft, in three minutes. “This was his first time placing, let alone winning a tournament,” Eldred said.
n Shawn Warmington, sophomore, 152 pounds, found himself wrestling against teammate Andrew Tranbarger, sophomore. Warmington won the match 20-5.
“Shawn dominated his own teammate,” Eldred said. “I don’t know if it was because he was wrestling in front of friends and family or if he wanted to establish a place in the team’s pecking order.”
n The match between seniors Ricky Schlitz and Tyler Hoffman, in the 171-pound class was very exciting. Schlitz won match 11-1. “They wrestled really good,” Eldred said. “It was a wrestle-off between two state placers.”
n Marcus Gabaldon, junior, 125, wrestled against Seth Steere of Taft. He won the match 9-7. “It was tied until late in the match,” Eldred said. “He got the takedown in the last 20 to 30 seconds.”
n Bobby Short, junior, 140, won his match against Thomas Skyler of Taft in 3:58. “Bobby was pretty dominant the whole match,” Eldred said. “He was up by 10 points at the pin.”
n Jon Thurber, senior, 160, won his match against Dakota Bones of Creswell, 13-5. “Jon was all over the kid,” Eldred said. “The kid was just trying to survive.”
Community support
The wrestlers had the home-mat advantage again as they wrestled before a full house.
“It is nice to see a packed gym,” Eldred said. “It gets the kids excited to wrestle.”
The community’s support of the wrestling team has been strong, he said.
“The last few weeks, more people in the community are telling me how good we’re doing,” Eldred said. “People in the community are asking me how to donate money to the program.”
This week
Today, the Braves will be at Lowell High School for a four-way match between McKenzie, Mohawk, Lowell and Reedsport.
On Friday and Saturday, the team travels to Liberty High School in Hillsboro, for the invitation-only Reser’s Tournament of Champions, the premiere wrestling tournament in Oregon.
“This gives us a chance to see where we are in the state,” Eldred said, “not just in the 2A division.”
