PORTLAND — As the clock expired in Lake Mulberry’s 190-pound championship match Friday night at the Class 4A championships, the Philomath High junior couldn’t help but let out a couple of loud “yeahs” during his moment of triumph.
Mulberry’s rise to the top of the sport in his weight classification this season comes just three years after he decided to give wrestling a try. And it wasn’t his idea.
Gallery: PHS wrestling at state championships (Feb. 28, 2025)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s appearance in the Class 4A Wrestling State Championships on Friday.
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PHS coach Troy Woosley said there was an effort to get Mulberry to get into the wrestling room as a freshman. Mulberry confirmed it’s true — the longtime coach indeed encouraged him to see what he could accomplish in the sport. Plus, he got a little push from a classmate.
“Riley Barrett, he gave me some inspiration and wanted me to come out,” Mulberry said about a classmate and fellow state champion. “It was a good choice.”
Not entirely new to the sport, Mulberry had been exposed to wrestling through the Mat Club, the local youth program. Another influence on his reintroduction was Mark Woosley — Troy’s brother, a wrestling official, a Mat Club volunteer and Mulberry’s youth baseball coach.
“Wrestling’s the hardest sport I’ve ever done,” Mulberry said. “I thought about quitting multiple times my freshman year and getting injured but I decided to suck it up.”
In the 190-pound finale, Mulberry faced Mazama senior Jack Kaefring, who was seeded third and had advanced with wins on a pin in 25 seconds, a 7-2 decision and in the semifinals, an 11-2 major decision over second-seeded Cayden Baker of Scappoose.
Neither wrestler scored in the first period. Mulberry started down in the second period and went up 1-0 with an escape within the first 10 seconds. Then in the third, Kaefring chose to start on the bottom and tied the score with an escape. Mulberry went back up 2-1 when officials whistled Kaefring for stalling.
Mulberry then finished him off with a three-point takedown in the final seconds.
“I knew he was going to go out there and not shoot that much,” Mulberry said. “I knew he was going to wait for me to be the attacker and I could feel that from the start. I knew that if I could push the pace, it would help me.”
The penalty point that Mulberry was awarded with 1:22 remaining was an important moment in the match.
“Pushing the pace the whole entire time and getting my underhook and making him uncomfortable, I got that key stalling point,” Mulberry said. “I knew by then I was good enough that I could stall out and make him do something dumb and recover and score on him.”
Woosley said there was a debate about whether Mulberry should compete at 215 or 190 heading into regionals. With the way things were matching up, the PHS junior appeared to have the best possible path to a high finish at 190, especially when word broke that one of the top competitors, senior Gavin Sandoval of Crook County, dropped down to 175.
“So, I said, ‘let’s just go 190’ — we have (Sweet Home senior) Ashton Swanson in our region and he’s the best in the state but we’ll go as the second behind him on the opposite side of the bracket,” Woosley said. “I thought we would be top three or four and then the whole thing changed as soon as Swanson got ejected.”
In regionals the previous weekend at Philomath, Swanson was disqualified to really open the door for Mulberry. He ended up winning regionals and was seeded No. 1 for state.
After winning on a first-period pin in the opening round, Mulberry was pushed in the quarterfinals in a sudden victory over Crook County senior Ethan Lamphere.
“That was a little embarrassing to be honest,” Mulberry said. “I had already pinned that kid and almost tech’d him (win via technical fall). He’s just a thrower, he just wanted to lock up with me and I was trying to get outside and score, which was a little different for me, and it worked out. I tried it multiple times deep, I just couldn’t finish it. I finally finished it in overtime.”
Mulberry then came through in the semifinals on Day 2 with a 7-3 decision over sixth-seeded Noah Hughes, a senior out of Estacada.
After a scoreless first period, Mulberry started down in the second period and immediately scored with an escape. With 45 seconds left in the period, he earned three more points on a takedown. Mulberry led 4-1 going into the third period and at the midway point got another takedown to pretty much clinch the victory.
The win advanced him into the championship bout.
“He’s such an athlete and he works hard,” Woosley said. “He’s still raw and he can still get a lot better. I know this is going to boost his confidence going into next season.”
Mulberry had this to say after picking up his first-place medal and posing for photos atop the medal stand: “I didn’t realize that I would actually become a state champ. I just went out there and won and was like, ‘wow, I guess I’m a state champion.’ It almost felt kind of easy.”