SPORTS
A6 — BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2021
BAKER WRESTLER GAUGE BLOOMER, SWIMMER BRIANNA STADLER WIN STATE TITLES
Capping a strange season
with a state championship
By Corey Kirk
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
Two Baker High School
students wrapped up their ju-
nior years in exciting fashion
on Saturday, June 26, both
winning state championships.
Incoming senior Gauge
Bloomer won the 195-pound
division at the state wrestling
tournament, and classmate
Brianna Stadler won two
events at the state swim
meet.
Both excelled despite a
shortened season that took
place not during winter, as
is typical for wrestling and
swimming, but during late
spring and summer, due to
the pandemic.
Early present for Bloomer
Bloomer capped an un-
beaten season with a state
title at the Class 4A tourna-
ment at Cascade High School
in Turner, near Salem.
He won the title just three
days before his 18th birthday.
“It feels really nice, it feels
really good,” Bloomer said.
After winning his weight
class in the regional tourna-
ment at La Grande, Bloomer
was the second seed for the
state tournament, which
wasn’t sanctioned this year
by the Oregon School Activi-
ties Association.
Bloomer started the tour-
nament by pinning Tillamook
senior Rafael Martinez in 32
seconds, then winning 12-3
over Jaime Cruz, a senior
from Woodburn.
“His fi rst two he handled
pretty easily,” Baker coach
Brandon Young said.
In the semifi nal round,
Bloomer took on graduated
senior Ethan Richards of
Mazama.
What took place on the mat
things, I don’t think my brain
would of handled it, I prob-
ably would of done something
dumb and lost the match,”
Bloomer said.
After the fi rst three min-
utes, Turner was leading, 4-2.
But just 30 seconds into the
second round, Bloomer was
able to land a throw to get
Turner onto his back, shoul-
ders to the mat for a three-
count, offi cially claiming a
state title. When the offi cial
raised his hand, Bloomer felt
a tremendous weight leave
his shoulders.
“I didn’t know what to do, I
just ran over to Coach Young
and gave him a hug,” Bloomer
said.
Young remembers that hug
being more like a tackle.
“He came and just jumped
all 195 pounds of muscle,
jumped into my arms,” Young
said.
After a year of sports being
uncertain, with fall sports
being postponed and football,
in which Bloomer is a top
Bulldog running back, not
starting until late winter,
Bloomer was happy to have
Marianne Stone/Contributed Photo his parents and grandparents
Baker’s Gauge Bloomer celebrates his state champion-
in attendance to watch the
ship at the Class 4A wrestling tournament June 26.
win.
“It was really cool having
between Richards and Bloom-
“That was a really tough
them there, it was awesome,”
er is something that Young
one, that was close, we went
Bloomer said.
couldn’t describe as anything into overtime and I barely
With a state title in hand,
but a war.
beat him,” Bloomer said.
Bloomer still has another
“He (Bloomer) had a couple
The win propelled him
season of wrestling to look
of opportunities to score, and into the championship match forward to this winter, and
didn’t quite get it done, and
against Estacada junior Jack- he’s already ready to get back
then the kid (Richards) got
son Turner.
to work.
a reversal on us, to tie it up
Staying with his usual
“Going into senior year
2-2, so they were pretty much pre-match routine, Bloomer
I’ll probably just keep doing
neck and neck all the way
put his headphones on, and
what I am doing before my
through the entire match,”
shredded his air guitar solo
matches, play my air guitar
Young said.
moments before stepping
and have the same mindset,”
The match went into
onto the mat.
Bloomer said.
overtime, and Bloomer fi nally
“I was focused and relaxed,
Bloomer expressed his
prevailed, 8-6.
I knew if I tried to change
gratitude to Young, and he
Sydney Lamb/Contributed Photo
Baker’s Brianna Stadler is a four-time state champion.
credits Young for getting him
into wrestling.
He’s also grateful to Shawn
Belding for helping him
learn how to work hard, Eric
Wirfs from Aspect Strength
and Conditioning for helping
him with weightlifting, Clay
Keller for helping him train
all throughout the summer,
and Hon Rushton for wres-
tling with him all throughout
high school.
Both Keller and Rushton
are former Bulldogs and also
state champions. Keller won
at 145 pounds in 2017 and at
160 pounds in 2018. Rushton
was the state champion at
182 pounds in 2020.
Back on the podium for
Stadler
For the third consecutive
year, Stadler left the state
swim meet as a champion,
winning the 200 individual
medley and 100 butterfl y
to increase her tally of state
titles to four.
“She’s a dedicated, hard-
working and accomplished
swimmer,” Baker coach Paula
Moe said of Stadler.
See Champions/Page A5
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