Farlow leads HRV boys to 15th at state tourney

Farlow opened the tourney with two wins by fall, advancing him to the semifinals. Farlow (39-5 this season) won by fall over Hayden Melendrez of Thurston in the first round and eventual sixth-place finisher Trey Smith of Canby in the quarterfinals. That pitted him against the eventual state champion, Crater’s Jeremiah Oliva, who beat the HRV wrestler in the semifinals by technical fall, 19-3.

Farlow battled back to win a major decision, 14-2, over West Albany’s Owen Hoyt (fifth place) in the consolation rounds, but lost, 8-2, in the third-place match to Aiden Nelmes of Bend’s Mountain View. Four of the five wrestlers Farlow faced at state ended up placing in the top six.

Farlow ended his HRV wrestling career with a 119-25 record and as a four-time state championship placer — an exceptional accomplishment. He was 21-7 as a freshman when he finished sixth at 106 pounds. Farlow was 34-6 in his sophomore year, when he took fourth at 113. He won 25 of 32 matches as a junior when he was sixth at 120.

Hood River had seven other wrestlers qualify for state. Among those who won a match — and scored team points — were Cohen Wager, at 106 pounds. He lost his first-round match, but won in the first round of consolation by fall over Grayson Jarman of Wilsonville. Conner Hoyt of West Albany ended Wagner’s season in the next consolation round, winning by fall. Hoyt went on to finish fourth.

Drew Lucas of Hood River won by a quick fall in the first round in the 113-pound weight class over Sam Vessey of Redmond. Lucas (27-10) lost his next two matches, 6-5 to Nathan Ramirez of Dallas, and 5-0 to A.J. Perez of Crater. Ramirez would finish fourth and Perez fifth.

Junior Leyton Adams (37-11) won two of his four 138-pound matches at state. After losing in the opening round to eventual fourth-place finisher Jaxon Harada of Thurston, Adams won by technical fall (16-1) over Lorenzo Romero-Hill of Dallas, and 12-3 over Jacoby Jones of Crescent Valley. Thomas Wippel of Eagle Point beat Adams 10-1 in the consolation round; Wippel would eventually place fifth.

Sophomore Froylan (Jr.) Mendez (37-9) and senior Samuel Blosser each won one of three matches at state. At 144 pounds, Mendez lost by major decision in the first round to Beau Harvey of West Albany before winning by a technical fall, 23-8, over Kellen McCulley of Bend. Denny Dean Jr of Caldera won by a 20-3 technical fall over Mendez in the second round of consolation and went on to place fifth. At 165 pounds, Blosser lost by fall to eventual fourth-place finisher Zechariah Halsey of Lebanon, but the HRV wrestler battled back to beat Colby Price of Eagle Point in the first round of consolation. Caleb Zachery of Mountain View beat Blosser in the next round by injury default.

Also at 120 pounds, Ethan Clough (18-10) lost both his matches: 20-5 to Nelmes, and by fall to Phoenyx Pennell of Ashland. Abelardo Gomes-Gordian (13-10) lost both his matches at 138 pounds. He lost by fall to Mason Thynes of Redmond, and 9-2 to Eagle Point’s Wippel. Thynes would end up placing third.