Six Philomath wrestlers turned in first-place performances Thursday at the Benton County Championships but it wasn’t enough to overcome Santiam Christian for the team title.
In a close competition for the top trophy, the Adair Village school edged the Warriors by just 2.5 points to win the tournament’s championship for the first time in the annual event’s 25-year history.
Gallery: PHS wrestling at Benton County Championships (Jan. 9, 2025)
A collection of photos from the Philomath High wrestling team’s home appearance at the Benton County Championships on Thursday.
Senior River Sandstrom, junior Lukas Hernandez, junior Porter Compton, junior Riley Barrett, junior Lake Mulberry and junior Derick Kohn all won their weight divisions.
In the girls tournament, Philomath has just two wrestlers so competing for a trophy is not possible but freshman Sarah Robertson added two more victories to her season total with a first-place performance.
“It’s definitely a lot of fun,” Compton said about competing in the Philomath-hosted tournament, which is limited to the county’s five high school wrestling programs. “I know some of the other kids from Corvallis and CV and Santiam Christian so it’s always fun to see them all.”
After third-place medals at state in his freshman and sophomore seasons, Compton’s ready to move up. He will continue to wrestle at 144 pounds — the same weight where he placed third last year. Hard work is part of the plan.
“Me and Riley, we pretty much go all year round to the club and then work out at home,” Compton said. “I don’t do any other sports — wrestling is definitely my main sport.”
Compton’s record with the latest victories now stands at 18-4 with three of the losses coming against wrestlers outside of Philomath’s classification. A Klamath Union wrestler was able to get past Compton at Grants Pass in a sudden victory match.
In Thursday’s meet, Compton defeated Crescent Valley’s Jacoby Jones in the 144 finale on an 18-5 major decision.
Compton, Sandstrom and Barrett all compete with the Salem Elite Mat Club. Trips this past summer for Sandstrom and Compton included tournaments in Missouri and Nevada. After this season, they’ll be going to Florida and then back to Nevada.
For Sandstrom, he’s determined this season to not only get back to state, but bring home a medal. Last year ended on a down note with a weight issue that prevented him from qualifying for the trip to Portland.
“I’ve just been trying to carry that as motivation,” Sandstrom said. “I mean, what happened last year was not the way I wanted it to end so I trained all summer, worked hard and traveled the United States and that paid off.”
Sandstrom has won 11 of 14 matches this season and is undefeated so far against 4A opponents. He’ll stay at 120 pounds.
“I’ve got the ball rolling now and I’m just hoping to keep it rolling and stay hot this year,” Sandstrom said.
The Warriors compete in Special District 2, which includes wrestling powerhouse Sweet Home and a Cascade program that competed at a high level last season.
“We have the toughest league for sure,” Sandstrom said. “There’s a couple of kids that I’m keeping an eye out for and watching but I’m not really too worried about anybody.”
In the Benton County Championships, only two wrestlers competed at 120 so Sandstrom went up against a Santiam Christian opponent twice and won both times on technical falls.
Elsewhere, Hernandez stuck all three of his opponents in the tournament for first place at 138. In the championship bout, he beat Anders Johnson of Corvallis in 2:31. Barrett was business as usual at 150 with two opponents going down in his first-place showing. In the finale, Barrett beat River Nygren of Santiam Christian on a technical fall.
The Warriors also had winners at the two highest weights with Mulberry taking first at 215 and Kohn defeating all opponents at 285. Not enough wrestlers were entered for brackets with the matches occurring in a round-robin format. Mulberry won twice on fast pins — one in 11 seconds and the other in 40 seconds. Kohn also beat two opponents with a first-period pin and on a 6-4 decision.
In the final team standings, Santiam Christian had 203 points with Philomath second at 200.5. Corvallis was third (133.5), Crescent Valley fourth (127.5) and Monroe fifth (73.5).
Robertson rolled through her two opponents for the girls with a pair of first-period pins, the first coming in just 38 seconds.
Philomath is scheduled to wrestle again Saturday with a duals meet at Sweet Home. Next week, the Warriors head to the Oregon Wrestling Classic at Redmond.
