Numbers, expectations up in TD wrestling room

“The is the largest group we’ve had in 15 years, so we’re just thrilled about it and we didn’t really know what to expect after having a season canceled because of COVID,” said Beasley, in his seventh year as head coach. “Every time we walk into the gym, I’m just overjoyed to see how many kids we have.

“We have a lot of new wrestlers, including seven freshmen, and we have some novices that have never competed in wrestling. We have quite a good range and we’re just really excited, because it’s always fun to kind of start fresh and do the basics. As the season goes on, we tend to do less and less fundamentals and more move-specific practices.

Beasley said coaches are going to keep things simple this year, “because if you introduce too many moves and different styles, the kids will become paralyzed by indecision.”

The Hawks’ boys team will have leadership from a solid group of seniors that includes Taylor Morehouse, Connor Blair, Angel Oregon, Freddy Rodriguez and Nipko Alexander. Oregon wrestles in the 138-pound class, Morehouse is in the 170-pound class and Blair is in the 132- pound class.

“I definitely think that I can get to state this year,” said Blair. “We’re really working on the basics and we’re really trying to get the basics down. The coaches are doing good with kind of a new training program this year and I think we’ll have a really good season.”

Morehouse qualified for the unofficial state tournament (not sanctioned by OSAA) in June for the second year in a row and he’s focusing on trying to advance to state a third straight year this season.

Seniors on the girls squad include Vivian Harrah and Megan Lenardson.

“I almost placed last season at state, but I just missed it by one match so I’m hoping to at least get a top-three or higher podium finish this year,” said Morehouse, whose younger brother Julian is a Hawk freshman grappler. “The season is going pretty well so far. Last season I was pretty impressed with my ability to make it to state even though it was a short, six-week season. I’m looking forward to having another good season.”

The Dalles has three returning state qualifiers from the spring season, including junior Marquies Sagapolutele and junior Maisie Bandel-Ramirez, who took fourth place in the girls 125-pound weight class at the state meet last June.

“I had a really good season in the spring, and it was great going to state for the first time ever,” said Bandel-Ramirez. “I really didn’t have expectations last season because I didn’t wrestle in eighth grade or my freshmen year because of a knee injury. When I came back last season, I was unsure if I would still like wrestling at all because it had been so long since I had competed. I just didn’t know if it was still my sport, but I ended up loving it and I did well, and it was just an awesome season. It will be nice having more matches, because I only had three last year before we went to regionals.”

The seven-member Hawk girls squad is the largest ever at The Dalles High School. The Hawks had a total of just 13 wrestlers who competed during the six-week spring season so the 32 in the practice room is a welcome increase for Beasley and assistant coach, Ryan Manciu.

Beasley said: “I believe that Taylor, Marquies and Maisie will advance to state again, because they’re hard workers; they came in really good shape and they’ve been hitting the weight room and they’re in really good shape and we’re really excited for them,” said Beasley. “It’s going to be interesting to have a full season again. Part of the difficulty is that it’s such a long season.

“We typically compete every weekend and sometimes there’s one event during the week. They really have to keep their grades up and they have to be committed to traveling on weekends. We have five overnight meets, including the state meet Feb. 23-24 in Portland.”

The Riverhawks will compete in their first tourney Dec. 4, the Tyrone S. Woods Invitational at Oregon City High School. Their first home meet is the Jan. 6 Dennis Radford Triad meet at Kurtz Gym.