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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Sproat takes third at state qualifier
By rongi Yost
Correspondent
Cheyenne Sproat, the lone
senior and only female wres-
tler for the Outlaws this year,
competed at the Oregon Girls
State Tournament Qualifier
held at Cottage Grove
High School on Saturday,
February 7.
Coach John Downs said,
“Cheyenne has had a rough
year wrestling mostly male
wrestlers because female
wrestlers are few and far
between in the state of Oregon.
She’s only had the opportunity
to wrestle two girls out of the
14 matches she has competed
in.”
Sproat was excited to be
able to attend the girls quali-
fier. She told The Nugget that
since she wrestled against
boys most of the year she felt
she would be stronger than
many girls she would face.
Downs said, “With her
state-placer match time creep-
ing into the evening, you
could see she was getting ner-
vous, but also excited to be
where she was at the tourna-
ment. She kept saying, ‘I hope
you’re proud of me. I don’t
want to let you down.’ As I
was not just her coach, but
also her stepdad, I was excited
for her. I was so proud of her,
and she needed to hear some-
thing to calm her nerves.”
As Sproat stood in the
staging room just before her
match, Downs told her she’d
sacrificed much over the sea-
son, and pushed hard to prove
that girls can compete and
wrestle well. She was also
assured that no matter where
she’d place, Downs would be
proud.
The short conversation
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cheyenne Sproat has persevered and made it to the state tournament.
sparked a new fire in
Cheyenne, and she was ready
to face opponent Payton Rigert
from Hood River Valley.
Sproat knew she had a
tough match ahead against the
second-seeded wrestler of the
tournament. Cheyenne took
the mat and was determined
to do her best. At the whistle
start, Cheyenne went straight
at Rigert, and didn’t waste a
second. She was able to get
in on Rigert’s legs, but was
unable to finish the takedown.
Rigert was able to spin behind
and instead get the takedown
on Sproat.
Downs noted that as the
match progressed it was clear
Cheyenne was out-matched
in skill, but not in strength
or heart. Sproat continued to
try and get back up but was
unsuccessful against Rigert’s
moves. Rigert finally caught
Cheyenne as she tried to roll
through to her belly and was
able to hold her on her back
just long enough to get the pin
and win the match.
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Sproat came off the mat
knowing she’d done her best,
and accepted her third-place
medal with pride. The third-
place finish scored her enough
points on her own to lift the
Outlaws to a 24th-place team
finish out of 36 girls teams
that were in attendance at the
tourney.
Cheyenne qualified for
the state championships that
will be held at the Memorial
Coliseum in Portland on
Friday and Saturday, February
27 and 28, and hopes that a
couple of the boys from the
team will be there also, com-
peting in the boys division.
“She’s the start of some-
thing great for Sisters High
School,” said Downs. “Win or
lose, she will be the first girl
wrestler to qualify for Oregon
Girls State Championships for
SHS.”
Sisters lifters
break records
Sisters Level 5 Fitness’
l ifters b ro k e 1 8 s t at e
records in competition last
Saturday.
Results are as follows:
Note — one kilogram equals
2.2 pounds.
• Taya Newton: 3/6 75kg
total — 2nd place — two
junior state records.
• Sarah Rybka: 4/6 80kg
total — 2nd place.
• Lindsay Hamilton: 4/6
87kg total — 7th place.
• Jennifer Lookabaugh:
4/6 90kg total — 6th place —
three masters state records.
• Tami Jones: 4/6 96kg
total — 4th place.
• Teri Sharp: 4/6 107kg
— 3rd place — three masters
state records.
• Jennifer Banning: 5/6
114kg total — 3rd place
— three masters state records.
• Michael Dyer: 4/6 160kg
total — 5th place — three
masters state records.
• McKibben Womack: 3/6
166kg total — 6th place.
• Bill Lookabaugh: 4/6
167kg total — 5th place.
• Jamesynn Mendez: 5/6
176kg total — 4th place —
qualified for youth nationals.
• Randy Gardner: 3/6
178kg total — 3rd place —
masters state record.
• Keith Banning: 4/6
180kg total — 2nd place —
masters state record.
• Trevor Zanella: 3/6
193kg total — 1st place.
• Jason Rybka: 2/6 206kg
total — 3rd place — two
masters state records.
• Steve Horne: 5/6 225kg
total — second place.
photo by lynn woodward
Jamesynn mendez, 16, qualified for youth nationals competition with
strong lifts in competition on Saturday.