Section
SANDY OREGON. THURSDAY MARCH 5. 1981
Sports and Recreation
The banefy Post
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Controlling his opponent. Sandy High junior Chris Jones posts another win en route to the championship at the st ,te r t . t u
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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."
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