Philomath High’s Riley Barrett accepts the pressure — it comes with the territory of being an undefeated No. 1-ranked wrestler. In fact, the Warriors sophomore welcomes the pressure and challenge of defeating anyone who faces him on the mat.
“The pressure remains the same. If you don’t got the nerve, you shouldn’t be in this sport,” Barrett said following his latest victory Wednesday in a dual against Sweet Home. “A little nerves never hurt anything but the goal remains the same — get the title.”
Gallery: PHS wrestling vs. Sweet Home (Jan. 31, 2024)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s wrestling dual against Sweet Home on Wednesday
Veteran coach Troy Woosley sees an intense wrestler who loves the competition.
“I think he thrives on that and it actually makes him better,” Woosley said about the challenges. “He wants to be the best, he’s been talking about it, he was born into that and he’s just really good.”
Barrett went up against Jacob Landtroop, one of Class 4A’s other top wrestlers in the 150-pound weight division, in Wednesday’s dual. Barrett was in control from the start and secured a 9-3 decision.
“I like to win a little bit more dominantly and I feel like I could’ve,” Barrett said. “I feel like the score didn’t show how dominant the match … but it’s still not a bad win.”
Woosley said Barrett typically sees two types of wrestlers — those that “give him a 140% effort just because he’s unbeaten and No. 1 and there are going to be kids who just like keeping it close and are defensive on him.”
Wrestlers that choose the latter approach can keep the score close and hope for an opportunity to strike.
“The goal with Riley is to keep within himself in those types of situations,” Woosley said. “Sometimes in those types of matches, one mistake and then all of a sudden they score on you. So he’s going to have to get through that, he’s only a sophomore, and that’s going to happen.”
Barrett scored a takedown 30 seconds into the match and by the end of the first period held a 5-1 advantage. He added takedowns in the second and third periods and conceded one-point escapes to account for the final margin. Barrett was attempting to score another two points over the final 40 seconds for a major decision — which comes with a decision of eight to 14 points — but Landtroop held on.
Barrett has won seven tournaments this season with a record that now stands at 33-0. He hadn’t wrestled Landtroop in the past and in fact, it’s been common this season for the PHS standout to face new opponents.
“I bumped up (in weight) quite a bit from last year,” Barrett said. “I think almost everybody I’ve wrestled I’ve never wrestled before so that’s been pretty exciting.”
Sweet Home, a team ranked No. 1 in an OSAAtoday midseason coaches poll, won 10 of the 12 matches and with a couple of forfeits added in, took the boys dual by a 71-6 margin. Four girls’ matches were also a part of the afternoon with Philomath and Sweet Home each winning two.
Sophomore Porter Compton had a very close match with Sweet Home’s James Hearick at 138 — a pair of wrestlers that are both ranked in the top 10. The match was a stalemate through the first two periods with no scoring but Compton came through in the third by scoring an escape point with 38 seconds remaining.
“I could have scored a lot more points on my feet,” Compton said. “I wasn’t as competitive on my feet as I should have been.”
Compton, who has a 32-3 record and is ranked No. 4, needed to regroup after an intense match the previous evening that ended with an 8-2 loss to Stayton’s Leonardo Michel, a wrestler that should compete for a state title.
Coming back after a loss is part of the mental ups and downs that wrestlers need to work through over the course of the season.
“You know that you just have to move on from that match and go one match at a time,” Compton said. “It sucks to lose but then you’ve just got to get on from that and learn from your losses.”
PHS senior Ellie Morton controlled her opponent, Amelia Sullens, in a girls match at 106. She picked up two quick points with a takedown 39 seconds into the match and got the first-period pin with 4 seconds left on the clock.
“I’ve kind of been all over the place with weight — like 105 and 100,” she said. “I was supposed to wrestle 100 today but Sweet Home didn’t have one so I’m wrestling up weight.”
Morton said her opponent had a different strategy than what she typically sees.
“They have some really good people on their team and definitely have a different wrestling style than what Coach Woosley teaches,” Morton said. “So I just have to get out there and try what I can to get it.”
The girls’ regional tournament is a couple of weeks away as wrestlers square off to advance to state. Woosley said he expects Morton will qualify.
Morton has aspirations of leaving her mark on PHS girls wrestling.
“Hopefully I’ll make it to state and hopefully I’ll place and get put up on the champion wall,” Morton said. “That’s my goal.”
Sophomore Autumn Cluster had another Philomath victory with her victory at 157 on a pin in just 50 seconds over Madi Looney.
“I feel like I started off with a pretty poor shot so I tried to circle and recover,” she said, a takedown occurring 42 seconds into the match. “And then I noticed her head came down and I just kind of hipped into her.”
Cluster came out for wrestling for the first time this season to push herself and try something new.
“I think it’s more of a learning experience,” she said. “This is my first year doing this, so I’m just trying to gather information about it and learn as much as I can.”
Despite the final score in the boys dual, Woosley said there were positives among the PHS losses.
In a high-profile match at 113, Sweet Home’s Tytus Hardee held a 3-0 advantage going into the third period, added a takedown and ended up winning with a pin over Warriors junior River Sandstrom.
“It always comes down to a move or two in those lightweights and he just got beat by a kid he has a lot of history with — another top three, four kid in the state,” Woosley said. “We’ll see him again at regionals.”
Lukas Hernandez lost by a 16-0 technical fall at 126 at the end of the second period to Sweet Home’s No. 1 Kyle Sieminski.
“I thought he wrestled great even though he got tech falled,” Woosley said. “That was the No. 1 kid — that kid beat the No. 1 kid in the whole state last week (Roseburg’s Gage Singleton in the Reser’s Tournament of Champions). Lukas with his legs, if it was anyone else, he would’ve turned him a couple of times.”
Woosley also thought senior Gradin Fairbanks (165) and junior JJ Lewis (175) wrestled well with opportunities to score against tough opponents. And sophomore Derick Kohn had a solid outing after he bumped up to 215.
“It’s fun that those kids could still put that much effort even against good kids and compete,” Woosley said.
For the seniors, the dual represented a final appearance on the home mat.
“It’s crazy, this year has gone by so quickly,” said Morton, who is nearing the end of her third season of wrestling. “It’s kind of sad but I’m also excited to graduate.”
Barrett still has a couple of years to go but that didn’t take away from the excitement of facing the No. 1 team.
Said Barrett, “It’s just exciting, you know, the home environment, the spotlight’s down against one of the best 4A teams — it’s just a great atmosphere.”
Philomath’s girls are scheduled to compete at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Sherwood. The boys will also compete at Sherwood with a Saturday invitational that’s scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m.
