Sandy post., March 04, 1982, Page 7, Image 7

Thur»
The Sindy Post
Sports
M or ch 4
IW
(Soc
,) >A N O * (O ra .) POST
and Recreation
Wrestlers 6th at state; Kearney wins title
by SCOTT NEWTON
Imagine that i t ’s March, tool. Two juniors, Dan
Martin and Chris Jones, have only recently won state
championships
A sophomore, Larry Topliff, won a bronze
Later, a fourth potential 1982 state champion
moves into the district, Chuck Kearney
Yes, 1982 looked to be the year ol the AAA state
champion Sandy Pioneers Sounds good, doesn't it?
Instead, of course, it turned out to be The Season of
Adversity.
This fall Chris Jones end
ed up fighting a much more
important battle, one for
Analysis hisE“e„ withoul Jones.
Coach Ron Calhoun had
hopes of finishing in the top
three
After all. he had a supporting cast that included the
likes of Cal McKinms, Tim Systma and Kandy Car-
mony.
Sophomore Ixiren Bateman was the only Sandy
wrestler to lose in the first round of the state tourna­
ment this weekend/ Calhoun was just glad to have
him there He didn't wrestle a varsity match during
the regular season, and he was wrestling up a weight
class
Topliff, Martin. Kearney, McKinnis. Carmony and
Sytsma all advanced first round, but already things
were going badly
Martin had sprained his shoulder in the first 30
seconds of his match He held on. though, and in the
final half minute of his match he scored on an escape,
and then a takedown, for a 3-0 win
Martin's shoulder was packed in ice Thursday
night, and in hot pads the next morning, before the se­
cond round
The strategy that worked Thursday night didn't
work Friday.
Martin tried to hang on in his match again Dennis
Moore of Crescent Valley He tried to score his points
in the third period, and was coming close to doing it,
but the referee stopped the match, saying M artin was
in a potentially dangerous hold.
It was a bad break for the returning state cham­
pion With 11 seconds remaining in the match he
didn’t have time to get into scoring position again,
and lost 3-2.
Carmony s season also ended Friday afternoon He
lost 10-1 to the eventual 191-pound state champion,
Oscar Hicks of Benson
Also lost second round was McKinnis, who fell 10-2
in overtime
Kearney, Sytsma and Topliff all won second round,
and again in the quarterfinals.
Saturday afternoon, in the semifinals, Topliff lost
7-3 to Doug Minton of Hermiston, the eventual state
champion.
Sytsma lost 4-2 to Bob Starr of Clackamas, who
ended up second.
Kearney’s semifinal match was one of the most
talked about. Many were upset, first of all, that the
1981 state champion from Montana, Mike Connor of
Forest Grove, wasn't seeded
Only the state finishers from last year's tourna
ment were seeded No account of the current season
was taken into consideration
Secondly, some felt that Connors should have been
disqualified earlier in the tournament as he injured
another wrestler with an illegal move
Regardless, the much-awaited semifinal showdown
finally took place. There were three disputed calls,
the most important of which occurred in the second
period.
Kearney received two points for a takedown, and
two points for a near fall, when he threw Connors to
his back on the edge of the mat.
Some felt they were out-of-bounds when Kearney
got the move completed. Others felt that had the mat
been a little larger Kearney would have pinned the
former state champion right there.
Kearney went on to win 4-3.
T thought they called it just rig h t,” said Calhoun
The bubble never burst for Kearney He went on to
win the state title pinning his opponent in the finals in
40 seconds with a common half nelson
There are some who say that the easy going junior
in high school is pressured by his father, Chuck
Kearney Sr., an assistant coach.
But to see the younger Kearney in action is to dispel
that myth His aggressiveness shows, and there isn't
much chance he'd trade in his 31-0 record, his win
over Connors, or his state i lampionship
Sytsma went on to finish fifth, beating Jackson s
Paul Corbin, a 320-pound heavyweight, i second
time.
Topliff re-pulled a hamstring muscle in the wrestle-
backs ihe pulled it in practice two weeks ago), after
the semifinal round, and had to forfeit twice, settling
for sixth
It was an interesting crew of wrestlers and coaches
that played out the scenes this year There s
Kearney, with his wealth of knowledge about the
sport There was Mark Mullins, the chiropractor and
former NCAA champion.
I here was Tyler Smith, who moved here from
Oklahoma in the last year. He likes liver and onions,
and says he’s going io ne a chiropractor, like Mullins,
when he grows up
Finally, there’s Louie Coy, another likable type
And then there's Calhoun He was businesslike dur­
ing the tournament, but as personable as ever after it
was over.
Still, he seemed a little down Monday. For most
coaches, a sixth-place finish at state would be fine
For Calhoun, it was a letdown
Like Dan Martin, most of us w ill never know the
th rill of winning a state title, or the pain that goes
with being dethroned
But. they went down fighting They all know that,
and that’s all that matters
Top left: Kon Calhoun and Louie Coy watch a match. Bottom left: l.arry
Topliff. Above: Cal .McKinnis works over his first-round opponent. Bight:
Tim Sytsma wrestles 320-pound heavyweight Paul Corbin of Jackson.
Ski team wins ‘ugly’ Mt. Hood Championship trophy
There's nothing like going out with
a win
The Sandy boys didn't qualify for
the state meet this year, but they put
everything they had into the Mt.
Hood Championships, and came
away with the traveling trophy
‘ I t ’s got to be one of the ugliest
trophies I've ever seen, but I enjoy
having it,” Coach Robert Karsten
said.
Sue Sarich. a junior, won the girls
division with a time of 54 0
Her brother Steve, a freshman,
tied for first in the boys division with
a time of 41.7. He tied with Scott
Ware of Lake Oswego
The Sandy girls had a combined
lim e (from the top three skiers i of
2:45 1, winning the girls division over
St M ary’s (2 47 8» and Hood River
(2:50.7)
The Pioneers took third in the boys
division with a 2:114 Hood River
finished ahead of Sandy hy a second
Lake Oswego was second with a time
of 2.11.2
Junior Chris Welch was 13th with a
time of 44 3. Junior Mike Wall was
26th with a time of 45 3
Steve Sarich skied very well,
Karsten said He was the second
skier out of the chute for Sandy, and
was somewhere in the 40» Senior
Robert Spradling was the first Sandy
skier out. and was in the 20s The
course was packed down a little bet­
“We've been training with this
ter by the time Sarich made his run race in mind, and it paid o ff.”
in the giant slalom
Karsten said.
Spradling got a ski caught making
The Sandy mentor was also pleas
a corner and took a fall, but finished
ed with the girls team
Karsten said that Spradling is a
About Sarich. he said, “ She had a
good athlete and a hard worker, and pretty fa ir run I believe she can ski
said that he would have like to have better
seen him get a little more recogni­
" I think she’ll do better at state "
tion
She ran into a little soft snow, and
Both Welch and Wall had good
turned late and slid a little on a cou­
outings, Karsten said Wall was only
ple of gates, although she obviously
one second behind Welch, which il­
hit most of them right
lustrates how tight the race was,
Karsten pointed out.
-Sophomore Ulla Pearson tied for
Although Erik M arler and Brian second with Sara Neidermeyer of St
Silvey. both freshmen, didn't finish in
Mary a Both girls finished in 54 I
the top three, they turned in times of
-Sophomore Charr Bridge finished
45 7 and 47 3. respectively
in the top to with a time of 57 ()
She did well, skiing against lough
competition on new skis, Karsten
said
Other finishers include junior In
grid Peterson, senior Kris Van
Steems and fre sh m a n N ico le
Schouten
''I was real happy with the whole
team,” Karsten said
Karsten is hoping for another good
weekend for the girls They'll com­
pete in the slalom on Thursday at
Multopor. and the giant slalom on
Friday at Ski Bowl The giant slalom
w ill run from the top of upper bowl to
the bottom of lower bowl, which is a
long course, according to Karsten
He said that the girls chances of
repeating as state champions are
"quite good ”
Junior Anne Sarich. who was com
petmg for the Sky Liners Flub Cup in
Bend this weekend, w ill lie with the
team at state
T w e n ty-tw o team s, in clu d in g
teams from the Valley, Wilco and
Metro League, com fie,ed Saturday in
the Mt Hood Championships on the
upper Magic Mile at Timberline
In the past 11 years, Hood River
has won the title nine times
" I hate to put it this way, but this is
a building ye a r," Karsten said.
"Next year I believe we ll have one of
the strongest teams in the state."
We w ill be winning the Mt Hood
Championship again, Karsten said.
" I like that trophy ”
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