Hood River’s Jacob Smith gets Washougal wrestler Xavier Pineda-Guttier in a hold during the Columbia Gorge Invitational held at Stevenson High School on Jan. 21.
Hood River’s Jacob Smith gets Washougal wrestler Xavier Pineda-Guttier in a hold during the Columbia Gorge Invitational held at Stevenson High School on Jan. 21.
Hood River Valley placed third in the Columbia Gorge Invitational wrestling tournament held Saturday at Stevenson High School.
Castle Rock won the seven-team tourney with 217.5 points, Washougal was second and Hood River scored 119 points to place third. Columbia High placed fifth with 69.5 points.
A highlight for Columbia was the performance of 140-pounder Cassidy Hipskind, who was voted the most valuable wrestler of the girls tourney. She won both her matches by fall.
Hood River was led by individual champions Mason Steffers, Jacob Smith, and Connor Farlow. Steffers defeated Corbett’s Amin Qouchbane 10-7 in the 220-pound final. Smith won three matches enroute to the crown at 132 pounds. He topped Columbia’s Holden Uffelman in the 132-pound semifinals and won a 7-0 decision over Justin Behrend of Castle Rock in the championship match. Farlow advanced to the final with a semifinal win by fall, and then the HRV grappler defeated Castle Rock’s Landon Fulton, 8-4, for the 113-pound title.
Kevin Castro and Connor Tennant finished second for HRV. Castro lost a major decision to Castle Rock’s Ian Burton at 152 pounds; Burton was a WIAA state tourney wrestler a year ago. Tennant won by two pins to advance to the title match at 182 pounds, where he lost to Stevenson’s Gavin Gantner by fall.
Third-place finishers for HRV were Josh McLaughlin at 106; Robert Wood at 120; and Caden Harbough at 220. McLaughlin won by fall over Columbia’s Robert Grabb IV in the third-place match. The HRV wrestler battled Castle Rock’s Skylar Ammons for two rounds before losing by fall; Ammons placed second at state in 2022 at 106. Wood won his final two matches of the tourney after a semifinal loss.
Pacing Columbia High were third-place finishers Levi Childers (113 pounds); Liam Cox (160); Sawyer Muehlbauer (170); and Troy Muehlbauer (195). Cox won two of his wrestled matches by fall, including a pin at 2:41 in the third-place match against Conner Welby of Stevenson. Sawyer Muehlbauer was 3-1 at the tourney, including a win by fall over HRV’s Joel Bronson in the match for third place. Childers bounced back from a semifinal loss to win his consolation matches, both by first-round pins.
Columbia’s Calvin Andrews was fourth in a tough 138-pound bracket. Andrews won in the quarterfinals over HRV’s Jack McLaughlin by a 5-2 decision but lost in the semifinals to Stevenson’s Solomon Mahoney, who was fourth at state at 132 pounds in 2022. Also placing fourth for the Bruins was 285-pounder Matthias Posini, who won two of his four matches.
Bruins honor seniors
Columbia High wrestling Coach Michael Muehlbauer and his coaching staff are inviting the community to honor the Bruin seniors during the Jan. 26 match against visiting Hood River Valley.
The senior night activities will follow a slate of junior varsity matches beginning at 5 p.m. and prior to the subsequent varsity matches. Coach Muehlbauer said the goal is to have all his senior wrestlers available to wrestle against the HRV varsity.
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