» Wrestlers go 9-7 at Monroe Invitational

By Steve McCasland
Sports editor
Monday, February 08, 2010 | No comments posted. The Bandon/Pacific high school wrestling team placed 12th among 19 teams competing in the Monroe Invitational on Jan. 30.

The local team is scheduled to compete in a double-dual at Gold Beach at 6 p.m. today (Feb. 4), then will travel to the Cottage Grove Tournament for a 10 a.m. start on Saturday (Feb. 6).

Coach Tim Carver said that despite having only four wrestlers available for the tourney at Monroe last weekend, the team competed very well.

“We placed 12th as a team with only four wrestlers,” he said. “Three of our four competitors placed in the top six in their weight classes.”

The squad is missing Jamie Painter of Bandon and Aaron Wyatt of Pacific, the former out with strained knee ligaments and the latter with a hyperextended knee. Both are expected to return to competition soon.

Austin Butler missed last weekend’s tourney due to a prior family commitment. Meanwhile, other issues have resulted in the loss of Pacific’s Devan Jensen and Brenna Sullivan. “We have several out due to injuries and academic or other issues,” Carver said. “Overall, though, I was ecstatic with our 9-7 match record at Monroe. We continued the momentum that we started with a season-best 6-6 mark at Reedsport.”

Individual results:

• Christian Lathan, 119 pounds: Placed sixth with a 3-2 match record.

“Christian had a great tournament,” Carver said. “He wrestled Victor Ness of McKenzie in the fifth/sixth-place match and lost by second-round fall after having had Ness on his back. Even though Ness came from behind to win, this was one of Christian’s better matches of the season, coming against a top-notch opponent in a tough weight bracket.”

• Colton Jennings, 119: Jennings showed signs of improvement despite losing both his matches.

“In his loss to Dakota Utter of Elmira, Colton was on offense for most of the match before losing by fall in the third round,” Carver said. “I thought he wrestled really well before getting fatigued late in the match, when Utter took advantage. That was probably Colton’s best match of the season in terms being on the offensive. Right from the start, he was performing moves with skill, and he stayed on the attack until the end.” • Austin Robinett, 140: Took fifth place with a 4-1 match record.

“Austin should have wrestled for third place with his 4-1 record, but wasn’t able to due to time constraints and the limits on the number of matches allowed per day,” Carver said. “Instead, he wrestled in the fifth/sixth-place match in a very tough 140-pound division and won.

“His only loss of the day was an 8-3 decision to No. 1 seed and eventual second-placer Matt Trask of Philomath. Austin went toe-to-toe with Trask and did very well. In fact, his wrestling was outstanding match-in, match-out, all day long. It was easily his best performance of the year.”

• Jevon Painter, 189: Won two matches and lost two, placing sixth.

“Jevon wrestled everybody tough, winning twice by fall and losing twice by decision,” Carver said. “In the fifth/sixth-place final, he lost a very exciting match to James Booth of Glendale in overtime 11-9.

“Jevon has honed his technical skills each week and it’s really starting to show in the win-loss column. He’s continued to gradually improve, and in recent weeks has won more matches by pin and lost fewer matches both overall and by pin. Probably his biggest problem right now is his lack of confidence as a freshman competing against upperclassmen, but he’s getting there.”

Carver went on to say that Bandon had an outstanding tournament at Monroe, where the local team — using three first-year freshmen and one experienced junior — beat seven other competitive squads.

“This week, we have a tough dual at Gold Beach that we’re looking forward to,” he added. “Then we’ll compete in the 22-team Cottage Grove Tournament on Saturday. That’s considered one of the toughest meets in the state. I think our chances for district and state are getting better each week as we continue to improve and build confidence.”

The district tournament is scheduled Feb. 19 and 20 at Rogue River, followed by the state tourney Feb. 25-27 at Portland’s Memorial Coliseum. The top three finishers in each weight class at district qualify for state.