Philomath High School’s wrestling team put in a top-six performance over the weekend at the Grants Pass Winter Kickoff, a large two-day tournament with nearly three dozen schools, including several from California.
The Warriors earned six individual medals with senior River Sandstrom and junior Riley Barrett settling for runner-up finishes, senior JJ Lewis placing third, junior Porter Compton taking fourth and junior Lukas Hernandez and sophomore Wyatt Barrett finishing sixth.
Riley Barrett rolled into the championship match at 157 pounds with a series of lopsided technical falls as opponents from North Medford, Fortuna (California), Eagle Point and North Bend all left the mat in defeat.
In the finale, Barrett, last season’s 150-pound champion in 4A, went up against talented Crater sophomore Aidan Godley, who was 5A’s 126-pound champion last season (and the son of a two-time state champion). Godley executed a takedown early in the first period and won on a pin in 1:07. It was Barrett’s first in 12 matches so far this season.
Sandstrom had some close calls on his way to second place at 120 pounds. Sandstrom opened with a pin but then had to fight hard for victories of 1-0 over a Burns wrestler and on a tiebreaker over a McKinleyville (California) opponent. In the championship match, Chulhs Bates of Crescent City (California) Del Norte defeated Sandstrom on a 10-2 major decision.
Lewis opened with two victories on pins at 175 pounds before losing to a Del Norte opponent. He responded with a sudden victory triumph over a Grants Pass wrestler and then defeated Sutherlin’s Ty Terry on a pin in 5:15 in the third-place match.
Compton advanced to the third-place match as well with his performance at 150 pounds. Compton’s path to the medal-round bout included wins on a 2-0 decision, 16-0 technical fall and 10-0 major decision before losing 5-2 to a Crater opponent and 10-0 major decision over a Siuslaw wrestler. In the third-place match, Klamath Union’s Levi Hicks got the win via sudden victory.
Hernandez won three of his first four matches at 138 with all three victories coming on pins. He lost on a technical fall to a Crescent Valley wrestler to drop into the fifth-place match. There, a Crater grappler got the win on a pin.
Wyatt Barrett also had a sixth-place showing at 144. Barrett pinned his first two opponents and later in the fifth-place match, lost to a Del Norte opponent.
Also winning matches at the tournament were junior Liam Benett (2-2 record) and junior Derick Kohn (1-2 record).
In the team standings, Crater easily took the team title with 312 points. Burns beat out Grants Pass for second with 198.5 points the host school’s 159.5. South Medford was fourth (151.5), Del Norte fifth (150) and Philomath sixth (128.5). In all, 35 teams had wrestlers in the varsity portion of the tournament.
In the junior varsity tournament, senior Ryder Zitlau placed third at 157 with a 5-1 record.
The Philomath boys are scheduled to compete Dec. 27-28 in the Northwest Duals at West Albany.
Robertson places 6th for girls
Philomath had two wrestlers in the Grants Pass girls tournament. Freshman Sarah Robertson won three of her first four matches at 130 pounds — all on pins — and ended up in the fifth-place match where she lost to Sofia Ruiz, of Corning Union (California).
Freshman Addison Liddell at 155 won two of her four matches. Both wins came via pins.
