Salem-Keizer wrestlers everywhere in state wrestling finals
Five girls, four guys in title matches at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland
Although no Salem-Keizer schools are in the running for a team championship, there are plenty of local wrestlers vying for an individual title on Championship Sunday morning at Portland’s Memorial Coliseum.
On the boys side, McNary and South Salem both have two grapplers tooking to win a gold medal. For South Salem, the two championship wrestlers is a school record—according to coach Scott Dufault.
At 160 pounds, South’s Anton Chacon was 26-1 coming into the OSAA tourney and then recorded four wins—including three pins, to advance to the finals to face top seeded Chase Dennis of Tigard.
The Saxons’ 220 pound Alex Descrozuic was expected to make the finals as the #1 seed. He will square off against second-seed Steven Ramos of David Douglas.
For McNary, 106 pound Max Blanco was named the Central Valley Conference wrestler of the tournament after that event at North Salem High. He will get on the mat for the state title against the second seed, Brody Lybarger of Mountainside.
At 170 pounds, third-seeded Josh Friesen posted an 11-2 major decision over second-seed Anthony Linares to earn the right to meet top seeded Cougar Friesen of state wrestling power Newberg High.
On the girls’ side—in the combined 5A/6A tournament, North Salem has two of Salem-Keizer’s five wrestlers in the finals.
At 120 pounds, the Vikings’ Mariko Sonis rode her #3 seed to the title match against top-seeded Sadie Hall of North Medford.
In the 145-pound finals match, unseeded Icela Sanchez Rodriguez of North is the decided underdog as she will do battle with another Salem grappler—top-seeded Reese Lawson of West Salem. That should be a match with plenty of local cheering involved.
McKay’s Sarahi Chavez will battle for the 100-pound girls title. Chavez, the second seed, meets #1 seed Skyler Hall of North Medford, the sister of 120 pounder Sadie Hall.
McNary’s Ali Martinez will do battle for the 190-pound championship. Martinez, the second seed in the tournament, will square off against unseeded McKenzie Mills of David Douglas. Mills pinned #1 seed Georgia Buehler of Corvallis in her journey to the title match.
On an unfortunate note, Sprague’s defending 285-pound boys champion, Cole Steketee, was disqualified during his quarterfinal match. Tournament officials ruled that Steketee used a hard cross face move that was determined to be a punch, resulting in an automatic loss. Steketee had entered the tournament with a record of 42-1.
Championship matches at the Coliseum begin promptly Sunday at 9:00 am.