Central falls short of goals in state meet

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Five Panthers wrestle at Memorial Coliseum in Portland.

Photo by Sam Scott

Dylan Rardin takes a shot at Kris Renfro of Phoenix during a first-round matchup Feb. 25 in the state wrestling tournament.

Sam Scott

PORTLAND -- As always, the 2010 State Wrestling Championships Feb. 25-27 at Memorial Coliseum in Portland were more about the agony of defeat than the joy of victory.

There were 26 wrestlers in each of the 14 different weight brackets in the Class 4A state tournament. Only eight of them could place. Only one of them could win.

"We went in there with the goal of having everyone score some team points," CHS coach Van Holstad said. "It didn't go that way. We were pretty disappointed. I was hoping we'd have a couple of placers. I was really hoping both Dylan (Rardin) and Joseph (Swinehart) would place. The other three were up in the air, but I thought they maybe had a chance.

"It's the last tournament of the season for a reason. It's definitely the toughest. As you go on and on each round more people get eliminated and it gets tougher and tougher. There were some really good matches in the semifinals and finals. As a spectator, it was awesome to see. As a coach, it's too bad we weren't involved in those."

Photo by Sam Scott

Will Miller of Central tries to escape from Sutherlin's Shawn New Feb. 25 during a first-round match of the Class 4A state tournament at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland.

Swinehart had the most successful run of Central's five state qualifiers. The junior opened the 160-pound bracket with a 10-9 win against Brian Riggs of Pleasant Hill and then lost by technical fall to Chance Walter of South Umpqua. Swinehart then lost an 8-5 decision to Nick Garcia of North Bend in his first consolation match.

"Joseph had a takedown early in the mat right on the edge, but he didn't get it because the referee said he was out of bounds," Holstad said. "I thought it was a good takedown. Right after that, he had an opportunity to score and get back points and didn't finish. He took it for granted he was going to score and let the kid off the hook. It could have been a different story. In a close match, you've got to make those scoring opportunities count."

Curtis Minks lost an 8-3 decision to Cascade's David Johnson in a pigtail match at 215. Minks decisioned Theo Stellflug of Tillamook 9-7 in his first consolation match but then was pinned by Joseph Dubie of Douglas.

Photo by Sam Scott

Curtis Minks of Central grapples with Dustin Johnson of Cascade during a first-round match Feb. 25 in the Class 4A state wrestling championships.

Will Miller, wrestling at 285, also dropped a pigtail match to Shawn New of Sutherlin by fall in 1:57. Miller pinned Christian Whitfield on Sweet Home in a consolation match but then was pinned by Michael Torres of North Marion.

Rardin, at 125, lost his first match against second-seeded Ryan Bullock of McLoughlin and also dropped his first consolation match against Kris Renfro from Phoenix.

Victor Perez went 0-2 in the 145 bracket, falling to second-seeded Tyler Blythe from Stayton and Thomas Warden from Phoenix.

As a team, Central finished 33rd of 38 teams with six points. Scappoose edged Sweet Home for the 4A title, 195.0-182.0.

Minks is the lone senior among the CHS wrestlers who competed at state.

"It was kind of interesting," Holstad said. "Out of our league, Sweet Home was second and Philomath was in the middle of the pack. Taft had one state champion, and they finished with 27 points. Without him, we might have finished higher than anybody but Sweet Home and Philomath.

"It was nice to put some team points on the board. We took four juniors and one senior, and those juniors will be back for more. The experience they got will be valuable for them. I like our outlook for next year."