Eagle boys come fifth at Forest Grove invitational

HRV was led by individual champion Carson Farlow and runners-up Kevin Castro and Connor Farlow. Carson Farlow won the 132-pound title, pinning his way through three rounds to the title match where he defeated Owen Cyr of Century, 4-0. Castro was second at 152 pounds; he also won by three pins en route to the championship, where he lost by fall to Thomas Marquez of Canby.

Connor Farlow got a look at what could be a very competitive 113-pound bracket in the Northwest Oregon Conference (depending on what weight class the wrestlers compete), and at state, for that matter. He won 8-7 in the semifinal over Fredy Garcia of Wilsonville before losing in the final by fall to Dean Williams of Canby. Farlow and Garcia, both returning state tourney competitors, wrestled in a dual meet at Hood River earlier last week, when the HRV grappler won, 8-5.

Also at Forest Grove, HRV 106-pounder Joshua McLaughlin was third, defeating David Weimann of Forest Grove, 5-1, in the match for third place. McLaughlin lost in the semifinal to Joshua Andrade of Glencoe by fall.

Jesus Ortega-laur was fourth for Hood River, losing in the 126-pound semifinals to returning state tourney wrestler, Matthew Young of Canby, and in the final to Corbin Roe of Knappa. Roe competed at the Class 2A state tourney as a sophomore.

Mason Steffers also was fourth for HRV, winning two 220-pound matches before losing in the semifinals and the match for third place. Steffers had two first-round pins en route to the semis. His loss in the third-place match was to Glencoe’s Edson Cortes Jijon, a 2022 state tourney wrestler.

Eagle 138-pounder Jack McLaughlin placed fifth with two consolation-round wins, including his final match of the day, 11-8, over Glencoe’s Hayden Leeper. That bounce-back match was significant from the standpoint that McLaughlin had lost 7-5 in the quarterfinals to Leeper.

In the Jan. 11 dual against Wilsonville, host Hood River Valley and the Wildcats split 14 matches, but the visitors earned pins in five of their seven wins to edge the Eagles, 37-31. Wilsonville had five wins by fall at six points each and also earned a major decision (four) in the Northwest Oregon Conference match-up.

Meantime, HRV 220-pounder Connor Tennant’s first-round pin of Wilsonville’s Zarek Nowak was the lone six-point victory of matches wrestled for the Eagles. Hood River did earn two forfeit wins — each worth six points. (Tennant won one of three matches at the weekend tournament in Forest Grove.)

In some weight divisions of the HRV-Wilsonville dual, the meet was arguably a precursor to season-ending district championship and state tourney matches. Connor Farlow, HRV’s 113-pounder, defeated Garcia, 8-5. Carson Farlow won by major decision over Pablo Venegas, 14-4, at 138 pounds. Garcia was a state-meet competitor at 113 a year ago, and Venegas was a state- meet wrestler last season at 138 pounds. Carson Farlow was the same at 132 pounds.

In fact, the lower weights were sprinkled with wrestlers with state tourney experience. At 120, Wilsonville’s Kaden Kramer topped HRV’s Treshaun Douglass by fall and teammate Jack Ricketts did the same against Ortego-laur at 126. Kramer and Ricketts both have state-meet experience for Wilsonville.

Castro started a 4-for-5 win streak for HRV at 152 pounds with an 8-2 decision over Cesar Bautista. Joel Bronson won 12-5 at 170 and teammate Gabrial Witt-Inman added a forfeit win at 182 before Tennant’s pin at 195.

Of note: The Forest Grove tourney also included junior varsity competition, where seven HRV wrestlers won at least two matches. The group included: Romeo Castillo, Gabriel Vargus, Gavino Lica, Douglass, Austin Marquez, Jacob Smith, and Abelardo Gómes Gordian.