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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1981)
Section SANDY OREGON. THURSDAY MARCH 5. 1981 Sports and Recreation The banefy Post / DV » Controlling his opponent. Sandy High junior Chris Jones posts another win en route to the championship at the st ,te r t . t u m ~ tnampionsnip at tin state ( lass AAA wrestling tournament in Forest drove. Jones won the UM-pound div ision. Photos Mark Kloyd Pioneers claim 4th at state The Sandy Pioneers crowned two individual champions and picked up 83 points last week to take fourth place in the state Class AAA wrestl ing tournament at David Douglas. ( hris Jones, 148, and Dan Martin, 157. won individual titles for the Pioneers Sandy was the only team to have more than one champion Larry Topliff took third place for Sandy at 98 and Mike Russell was fifth at 141 It was one of the best finishes by a Sandy team in years and the best thing is that next year should be even better Jones and Martin are both juniors and Topliff is just a sophomore Only Russell w ill be lost to graduation Three o th e r P io n e e rs , a ll underclassmen, made it to state hu, lost in the first round Sophomore Mike Rohweder, 106. drew defending 98-pound champion Rodney Hawthorne of La Grande in the opening round and suffered a 14-3 loss Hawthorne went on to place second in the tourney • Dean Fischer, who was second to Russell at district, was dealt a 4 3 defeat in the first round of the 141 pound match by Kirk Schneider of Churchill Fischer is a junior Another junior. Tim Sytsma. suf lered a narrow loss in his opening round at 191 Madison's Rich Law pull<*d out a 17 15 w in over Sytsrnp in a w ild first round match Wrestlers had to survive the first two rounds before losing in order to stay in the consolation bracket One loss before that and it was the end of the season That was the key to Barlow 's sue cess The Bruins successfully defended their state championship by getting enough wrestlers past the first two rounds They rolled up 101 points to edge Crater, second with 95 La Grande was third with 91, San dy fourth with 83 ' 2 and Benson fifth with 79 The I ’ioneers that did make it past the first two rounds really put on a show the final day Jones was one of the favorites at 148, hut he had to struggle to get to the finals There he put on one of his classic matches with Canby's Kris Pi hl to pull out the first Sandy win M artin, surp rising ly, had an easier time In fact, the Sandy junior had tougher sledding in the TVL district meet, where he had to over come an overtime match in the semifinals and a close 2-1 outing in the finals. See adjacent story on Sandy’s champs. Iopliff, who just kept improving during the course of the year, cap ped his season with an impressive third place finish He opened w ith a 13 0 whitewashing of ('rescent Valley's Frank Walter, then topped Medford’s Tim Frazier 9-3 That se, up a quarterfinal pairing with Barlow's tough Scott Luna, the only wrestler from the state of Oregon to heat Topliff during the regular l.arrv Topliff. third at «X season. Luna had been wrestling strong, hut Topliff dominated the Barlow wrestler and won 155. But in the semis, he ran into Ed Woodburn of La Grande w ho posted a 9-1 win over the Sandy soph and went on to win the tournament Topliff then pinned Conrad Eisely of Marshall in the consolation bracket and nipped Troy Santana of Sweet Home 4 3 for third place Bussell, the only senior in the San dy lot, opened with a win by default over Roseburg's Mike Pinard, who aggravated a shoulder injury just in to the match Russell then ham mered Grant Curnow of Hidden Valley 20-4 and won a quarterfinal match from Lebanon’s Collins Gilbertson 5-2. I hat put Russell in the semis against a tough Benson wrestler, John Borich Borich, one of the only wrestlers to beat Jones this year, dropped down to 141 for the tourney and heat Russell 10-1. Borich went on to win the state championship Russell then suffered a tough 96 loss in consolation to Roosevelt's Lorenzo West, hut snagged fifth place honors with a hard-fought 9-0 win over Putnam’s Boyd Good pasture. I was really pleasantly surprised with the way things came out,” San dy coach Bon Calhoun said “ I had hoped that Mike could get by Borich, but Borich really wrestled well Barlow had a lot of seeded w restlers who got by the first two rounds and that made a big difference in the team scoring.” Next year, it should be Sandy who w ill get the breaks If Jones and Martin stay at the same weight, they should be seeded first Topliff, if he stays at 98, should have a good shot at the title And Sandy may gel the services of Chuck Kearney, son of the Pioneer assistant coach, who placed second in the state at 168 for Parkrose The Kearneys are looking for a house in the Sandy area Two state champs and fourth in the state ain’t bad, but next year could be the whole ball of wax for Sandy Sandy coach Bon Calhoun watches the action. Martin, Jones capture first titles in 20 years Il's lieen 2(1 years since Sandy High School has had a slate wrestling champion, according Io coach Bon Calhoun Now the Pioneers have two of them Chris Jones and Dan Martin, both juniors, came away from the state ( lass /VAA meet with championship trophies " I t was awfully nice to have two in the finals and two win it,' Calhoun smiled “ We were the only team to have two state champions It's been 2(1 years since Sandy had a champion-1 hope that's not a trend or cycle." Jones, 148, opened with an 18 3 win over Crescent Valley's Dennis Moore and scored a 9 2 win over Klamath I ’mon's Marly Madsen That pul him in the quarterfinals and he had no problem with Redmond's Mery I^eckhee, winning 13-0 But things got tougher from there Jones tied Eagle Point's Don Snoke 11 after regulation in the semis and nipped the tough senior 2-1 in overtime Io gain the finals ’ ••«•HO Dan M artin rides hte 157-pound opponent, winning handily. M artin dominated hte weight and claimed Sandy’s «.emnd state title . » In the finals it was Jones against a fam iliar adversary, Kris Pihl of Canby Pihl was the defending state champion, hut Jones had beaten him during the regular season and dur ing the Timber Valley League district meet Both victories were by one point The state finals were no dilferenl Jones fell behind Pihl, but never lost his cool and came hack Io nip the Cougar star 5-4 Jones really had a donnyhrook there,” Calhoun said Pihl is so strong, it usually takes about 5 minutes to break him down Jones got two takedowns in the last 30 seconds to win it. Martin, at 157, has been tough all year, but not many thought he would come away with a stale title After all. he had to scrape for his life at the district meet where he won a pair of 2-1 decisions But the TVL is that tough and the experience got Martin ready for state He opened with an easy victory over Cres cent Valley's Pal Spence, then hammered Churchill's Ben Edwards 13-1 Martin edged Barlow s tough Steve Scott in the quarterfinals 3-1, then outmaneuvered Pal Wreath of host David Douglas by a 6-1 score in the semis The finals were no contest, as Martin pounded Emory Kleck of Raker by a 9-4 score Dan Martin really wrestled w ell." Calhoun said "He ac tually had a tougher match in the semifinals The finals ap peared to he no contest." t 4 • • - ♦ V **4« V ■ ■ . » •
