Eagle boys third at NWOC district wrestling tourney

HRV, which was fourth in the 2024 district tourney, qualified eight wrestlers for the Feb. 27 to March 1 Class 5A state tournament at Portland’s Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum. (The top four finishers in each of the 13 weight divisions qualified for state.) Coach Tony Rolen’s team had 16 district placers (top six).

Senior Connor Farlow led the way for the Eagles, as he won the 120-pound bracket with a 13-10 decision over Trey Smith of Canby. Farlow improved his record to 36-3 with a win by fall over Nicholas Anguiano of Centennial in the quarterfinals and a 19-4 technical fall over Cody Stevenson of Canby.

Farlow will be joined at state by one of his training partners at 120 pounds, freshman teammate Ethan Clough, who placed fourth.

Hood River had two runner-up finishers. Junior Leyton Adams was runner-up at 138 pounds and freshman Drew Lucas placed second at 113. Adams, 35-9 this season, won his first two matches by fall and then beat Ty Matthews of Canby in the semifinals, 12-9. Canby’s Nico Yazzolino, last season’s third-place finisher at 132 pounds, outpointed Adams in the final, 16-9.

Lucas won in the semifinals with a pin over Jordan Greer of Canby and then lost in the final, 14-8, to Aiden Welsick of Centennial.

Cohen Wagner at 106, Froylan (Jr.) Mendez at 144, Samuel Blosser at 165, were third-place finishers for HRV. Wagner won three of his matches by fall; his lone loss came in the semifinals to Hillsboro’s Thiago Zurita, who placed second. Mendez, now 36-7, also scored 18 team points for Hood River. He won by a 13-11 decision over Carson Doman of Canby in the quarterfinals, then lost in the semifinals, but won by two falls to place third. His third-place match win was again over Doman. Blosser’s route to third place included two wins by fall and a 7-1 decision in the third-place match. His lone loss came to runner-up Emmett Curl of Hillsboro in the semifinals.

Other than Clough, Hood River also had one other fourth-place finisher in Abelardo Gomes-Gordian at 138 pounds. He won four of his six matches, with both his losses coming to third-place finisher Luke Chambers of Centennial.

Also placing for Hood River were: Marcus Patrick (fifth at 113); Copeland Louis (fifth at 126); Octavio Calin (sixth at 126); Jack McLaughlin (sixth at 157); Owen Waits (fifth at 165); Aaron Smith (fifth at 190); Omar Sedano-Perales (fifth at 285); and Aiden Marquez (sixth at 285). Also winning at least one match at district – and scoring team points – were Rury Pelayo Ceja (144), Isaac Marshall (150), Jacob Smith (150), and Gabriel Inman (190). Jesus Ortega-Lara was injured in the first round of his 132-pound match and was unable to continue wrestling in the tourney after posting 27 wins this season.