Staff report
Columbia Gorge News
HOOD RIVER — Hood River Valley’s boys wrestling team finished fourth at the Feb. 21 Northwest Oregon Conference district tournament and qualified six wrestlers into this weekend’s OSAA Class 5A state tournament.
Coach Austin Wallace-Lister’s team scored 181.5 points at district, which was won by now five-time defending champ Canby with 402. The top four placers in each of the 14 weight divisions qualified for the state tourney Feb. 27-28 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
HRV had three runner-up finishers in 120-pounder Ethan Clough, Drew Lucas at 132 pounds, and Risor Reierson at 190. Reierson led 3-0 before pinning his first-round opponent and then beat top seed Jarrett Kelly of Canby in the semifinal, 6-4. Kelly placed fourth in the 2025 5A state tourney. Canby’s Samuel Doman, also a state tourney wrestler a season ago, pinned Reierson in the title match.
Clough lost, 9-2, to Hillsboro’s Dominic Ojeda in the title match. Ojeda had three takedowns against Clough, who twice earned escape points. Clough, a sophomore, wrestled at the state tourney in 2025. At district this season, he had a technical fall in the first round, won by fall in the second round and then beat No. 2 seeded Hendrix Day, 8-4, in the semifinal.
Lucas won his first two wrestled matches before losing in the final to top-seeded Dean Williams of Canby. The match was tied 4-4 after the opening period, with the two wrestlers trading takedowns and escapes. Williams pulled away in the third period with a takedown and then a near-fall in the closing seconds. Lucas (at 113) and Williams (at 126) wrestled at state a season ago.
Hood River had two third-place finishers in Copeland Louis at 126 and Leyton Adams at 138. Adams, who wrestled at state in 2025, lost his quarterfinal match against Justin Leonard of Hillsboro, 28-12, before winning four matches to place third. One of the wins came by fall over teammate Josh McLaughlin in the consolation semifinals.
Louis won twice before losing to eventual champion Trey Smith of Canby in the semifinal. Louis stayed alive in the consolation semifinals with a major decision over Pabel Garcia of Wilsonville and then earned a forfeit win over teammate Tsadiku Coffman in the third-fourth match. Coffman will join Louis at the state tourney with his fourth-place district finish.
HRV also had four fifth-place finishers who scored team points: Cohen Wagner at 113; Gabriel Avila-Vargas at 144; McLaughlin at 138; and Marcus Patrick at 120.

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