Season ends at state for The Dalles wrestlers

The 5A boys state tournament was held at Redmond’s Ridgeview High on Saturday, where Moorehouse won one of three wrestled matches. Moorehouse, who finished third in the Intermountain Conference district meet, lost in the first round to Hillsboro sophomore Preston Echeverria, by a 14-1 major decision. Echeverria was the No. 7 seed in that weight bracket and went on to finish third.

Moorehouse bounced back in the consolation bracket with a win by fall over Gage Pearson of West Albany. The wrestler from The Dalles lost in the second consolation round by technical fall to Gage Hanson of Crook County. Moorehouse finished the season with a 17-7 record.

Parsons, a freshman who was fourth at district, drew top-seeded Vaun Halstead of Springfield’s Thurston High in the first round and lost by fall. Halstead entered state with a 32-1 record and he went on to win the 220-pound championship and help his team place third. Parsons (5-8 this season) was eliminated from the state tourney in the first round of consolation where he lost to Daniel Bennett of St. Helens by fall.

Bandal-Ramirez wrestled in the all-classification girls state tournament Feb. 24 at Culver High School, where she won one of three wrestled matches at 125 pounds. Ayana Medina of Hillsboro won by fall over Bandal-Ramirez in the first round, but the Gorge wrestler rebounded with a pin of her own in the second round of consolation over Mckay Clark of Henley. Miah Egner of Crescent Valley won by fall over Bandal-Ramirez, ending the high school season for The Dalles wrestler.

Medina (21-0) went on to win the 125-pound championship, helping her team finish third behind champion Forest Grove and runner-up Thurston. She was one of eight female wrestlers to finish the season unbeaten.

IMC notes: Crook County, the IMC boys team champion, qualified 21 wrestlers for the state tourney and 15 of them scored points with first-round wins. The Cowboys held the first-round lead over IMC rival and this year’s district runner-up, Redmond. The Panthers had 17 wrestlers qualify for state and 14 of them advanced with first-round wins.

Eventual champion Crescent Valley of Corvallis took control of the team race in the semifinal round, advancing eight wrestlers to the final. Seven of those finalists were crowned champions for the Raiders. Crook County finished second, Thurston was third and the IMC’s Redmond fourth.

Individual champions from the IMC were: Tucker Bonner of Crook County, who beat teammate Mitch Warren for the 120-pound title; Junior Donner of Redmond at 145 pounds; and Redmond’s Dylan Lee at 160 pounds.

Thurston was led by junior Kolton Malone, who finished the season 43-0 en route to winning the 138-pound title.