After the final match and presentation of medals and team trophies Friday night, Philomath High wrestling coach Troy Woosley took a deep breath and had a seat as the 6-1/2-hour Warrior Classic came to a close.
Philomath had put together a solid performance with the boys easily taking first place in the seven-team tournament. Eight Warriors won first-place medals — seven boys and one girl — and several others put in exceptional showings.
Gallery: PHS wrestling at Warrior Classic (Dec. 8, 2023)
A collection of photos of Philomath High’s boys and girls wrestling team in the Warrior Classic on Friday
Woosley could smile following the performance because the team came through in the live-action environment. The days leading up to the tournament had its ups and downs in the wrestling room with the coach mentioning that his athletes “had a little bit of lull this week in practice just with energy and everything.”
Added Woosley, “I don’t know if it was the two or three weeks from getting in shape or if it was a hangover from the turkey but they were flat.”
Still, the coach said the team actually did much better on Thursday leading into the tournament, which would represent the first opportunity for several wrestlers to get on the mat. In the season-opening tournament at Cascade, the Warriors had no varsity entries at six of the 14 weights.
For the boys junior River Sandstrom, sophomore Lukas Hernandez, sophomore Porter Compton, junior Ari Hammond, sophomore Riley Barrett, senior Gradin Fairbanks and junior Brady Russell all won their weight divisions. Junior Cameron McConnell and sophomore Ben McGovern had runner-up finishes and seven others placed third or fourth.
Senior Ellie Morton won her weight and junior Sadie Francis was a runner-up for the PHS girls.
Woosley’s been around wrestling his whole life and now in his 19th season with Philomath High — he’s served as the head wrestling coach longer than any other in the school’s history — he has the background to provide an accurate analysis of the lineup.
“River Sandstrom was the only entry at 113 so we bumped him to 120,” Woosley said. “He gave up a little bit of weight, wrestled a pretty good kid in the finals and just was better, so that was fun to watch.”
Sandstrom defeated Taft’s Emiliano Sanchez in the 120 finals on a 4-2 decision.
Hernandez wrestled just twice with a limited number of entries at 132 and his total time on the mat for the afternoon and evening added up to just over the equivalent of one period. He took care of his first opponent in 42 seconds and won the 132 finale on a pin in 1:40 over Springfield’s Joseph Plueard.
Compton dominated all three of his opponents at 138 — the first on pins and in the finals on a 16-0 technical fall over Crescent Valley’s Asher Grose.
Newcomer Ari Hammond, a junior who transferred in from an Arizona school, won his first tournament with his showing at 144. Hammond defeated teammate McConnell in the finals on a 13-7 decision.
Barrett defeated three opponents all on pins, including in 1:26 over North Eugene’s Freeman Pearson in the 150-pound finals. Senior Gradin Fairbanks had a similar performance at 165 with three pins, the finale lasting 2:25 in a win over Springfield’s Isaac Carlsen.
At 285, Russell had a three-pin day as well with wins in 48 and 42 seconds, respectively, in the first two rounds before beating North Eugene’s Kadyn Cruz in 3:07 in the finals.
“It was good to see Brady Russell finally get on the mat for us at heavyweight as he’d been out,” Woosley said. “He’s a light heavyweight but he’s definitely an athlete and it looked like he moved better than most of them.”
There were no surprises among the PHS group that typically does very well in tournaments.
“Our other wrestlers that usually win — they just took care of business,” Woosley said.
Philomath ended up with 282 points for first place, well ahead of North Eugene’s 205. Summit was third (133) followed by Crescent Valley (114.5), Dayton (61), Springfield (60) and Taft (38.5).
Senior Ellie Morton defeated two opponents for first place in the 105-pound weight division in the girls’ portion of the tournament. Morton took both wins on first-period pins.
“Ellie beat two girls — one that was 3-0 and another one was 2-1 … it’s early and who knows about those wins but she was dominant though,” Woosley said.
Senior Sadie Francis was the runner-up at 110.
“Sadie went 1-1 and it was good to see her having some success,” Woosley said. “It was good to see how many girls were here … it was pretty cool.”
North Eugene brought what appeared to be a full roster of wrestlers and the 5A school won the tournament over runner-up Taft, 117 to 72. Dayton took third (69), followed by Summit (49), Philomath (30), Springfield (30) and Crescent Valley (18).
Back to the boys, among those who didn’t win, Woosley mentioned McGovern’s runner-up finish at 215 and junior Ryder Zitlau’s third-place showing at 157.
“We kind of saw a good mix of kids that are doing all right but they did a little better today,” Woosley said. “I think it’s just a great, great time for this tournament to happen right before our youth tournament so we’re not wrestling this weekend. It’s kind of like the last hurrah before the week and going into the big tournament next week at Grants Pass.”
McGovern reached the 215 finals with a late-match pin and a major decision in his first two matches before falling to North Eugene’s Antonio Cardenas. Zitlau won his third-place match over North Eugene’s Elijah Klemmer on a pin in 1:48.
As mentioned, McConnell finished runner-up at 144 on the loss by decision to Hammond. McConnell advanced to the finals with two first-period pins, the second one coming in just 11 seconds over a Dayton opponent.
Junior JJ Lewis won three of four matches for third place at 175 — the last victory coming over North Eugene’s Benjamin Walker on a pin in 1:48. Sophomore Lake Mulberry at 215 battled back from a first-round loss — to the eventual winner — for four straight wins and third place. Mulberry pinned Summit’s Stefan Dokir in the third-place match in 42 seconds.
Fourth-place medals went to freshman Odin Compton (126), freshman Wyatt Barrett (138), sophomore Liam Bennett (150) and senior Jonathan Doig (157).
Brayden Williams (126) and Derick Kohn (215) didn’t place among the top four in crowded brackets but did have at least two victories. Jeshua Gonzalez-Buxh also posted a win.
The Grants Pass Winter Kickoff is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday.
“It’s a big one — two days and 36 schools, all levels of schools including seven or eight from Northern California,” Woosley said.
The Warriors have been competing down in Grants Pass in recent years for the benefit of getting a glimpse at other top wrestlers in 4A.
“We’re going to see all of the Southern Oregon schools — a lot of them are big but you’ve got a lot of 4A schools down there, too, that we will see if not at state then some other time,” Woosley said. “It’s good to see that different style.”
The coach said he was happy with where the athletes are at with their weight.
“None of them are really cutting weight, they’re just kind of dropping on their own,” Woosley said. “We’re kind of spread out right now, so we’re still lacking at a couple of weights.”
Another advantage to the tournament is the opportunity for team-building.
“When you’re trying to have a lot of team bonding and chemistry, it’s good for that,” Woosley said. “We go down there and we have a huge house that we rent and then there’s two little cabins right next to it where the girls will stay with a chaperone.”
