Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Wrestling: Ten district placers, four state-qualifiers lead Wilsonville

Wildcats will send four wrestlers to state that begins on Thursday

• By: Alex Tam  
• Published: 3/4/2010 12:37:56 PM

Week after week, the Wilsonville wrestling team continues to take a step in the right direction under third-year coach Jason Milham.

The Northwest Oregon Conference district tournament was no different.

The Wildcats placed 10 wrestlers and will send four to the OSAA Class 5A state tournament this week after they finished sixth overall out of eight teams on Saturday at Century High School.

“I was pleased with it,” Milham said. “There could’ve been one or two more that had an opportunity to go. You have to capitalize on the situations where you have that chance. But ultimately, the team’s progressed each year.”

In Milham’s first year, Wilsonville had just one state-qualifier. Last season, they had three; and this year, the Wildcats increased that total to four.

Wilsonville scored 161 points for the tournament. Hillsboro won the league championship with 381, and Glencoe was second with 307.5.

Representing Wilsonville at state will be senior Hunter Smith (112 pounds), junior Mike Hadley (145), junior Adrian Escobedo (215) and junior Neil Ochs (285).

The Wildcats’ six other placers included senior Nick Cummings (sixth, 119), junior Patrick McDermott (fifth, 130), senior Troy Sims (fifth, 135), junior Mike Nelson (sixth, 152), junior Gabe Carbajal (fifth, 171) and sophomore Andrew Walls (sixth, 285).

Smith earned his berth to state after beating Liberty sophomore Gabe Garcia by fall in 1 minute, 48 seconds in the third-place match. Smith, who was the No. 1 seed, was knocked out of the championship bracket in the semifinals by Hillsboro sophomore John Vara by 2-1 decision.

“Instead of letting that get to him, he just turned around and wrestled the rest of the day through the consolation rounds,” Milham said. “He pinned his way through to the consolation finals.”

Hadley earned his berth to state after defeating Glencoe freshman Mitch Messmer by fall in 4:28 for third place. It avenged an earlier loss to Messmer in the first round of the championship bracket by 9-3 decision.

“(Hadley) just wasn’t himself on Friday and then on Saturday, he wrestled well through the day and saw the same kid in the third-place match and was beating him 11-1, and then turned him and pinned him,” Milham said. “He put a great tournament together on the second day.”

Escobedo was the lone Wildcat to reach the finals before falling to No. 1 seed Layne McNeely of Glencoe, a senior, by 3-1 decision.

Escobedo had the early 1-0 lead, but McNeely tied the score and was able to earn a late takedown in the third round to win the match.

“It was a solid match,” Milham said. “He scored the first point and they were battling back and forth. It was definitely a good wrestling match.”

Ochs qualified for state after beating Hillsboro senior Kevin Harris by fall in 2:35 in the third-place match.

Ochs was knocked out of the championship bracket in the semifinals to Liberty senior Zach Kelley by 6-3 decision.

“The semifinal match didn’t go as well as he would’ve liked,” Milham said. “But after that, Neil put his head on straight and wrestled tough through the consolations.”


Northwest Oregon Conference district tournament results
Team results
1. Hillsboro 381; 2. Glencoe 307.5; 3. Century 190; 4. Sherwood 189; 5. St. Helens 166.5; 6. Wilsonville 161; 7. Liberty 137; 8. Parkrose 46

Finals
103: Ronnie Bresser (H) def. Ian Hockett (S), 13-3 decision; 112: John Vara (H) def. Kyle Flaig (G), fall 5:47; 119: Daniel Leonard (S) def. John Porter (G), fall :43; 125: Conner Clarke (S) def. Eddie Ramirez (G), 9-7 decision; 130: Mikie Rodriguez (H) def. Mark House (G), 10-0 major decision; 135: Dylan Vandehey (C) def. Ryder Waddington (L) by forfeit; 140: Weston Tanner (STH) def. Doogie Harer (H), 4-0 decision; 145: Alex Rangel (C) def. Doug Girard (STH) by forfeit; 152: Francisco Toledo (C) def. Bruno Becerra (L), 7-4 decision; 160: Ty Rosevear (S) def. Troy Jackson (H), fall :57; 171: Joey Ashby (H) def. Jedi Asher (STH), 4-2 OT decision; 189: Trevor Mannen (G) def. Jacob Turek (H), 8-3 decision; 215: Layne McNeely (G) def. Adrian Escobedo (W), 3-1 decision; 285: Jared Bridgewater (C) def. Zach Kelley (L), fall :34

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