Linebarger takes tourney crown; TD is 13th in La Grande

Joe Linebarger (7-2 record) hardly broke a sweat in his run for tournament gold, going 4-0 with two first-round pins, a third round pin and a 7-1 decision.

After an opening-round bye, Linebarger defeated Pullman, Wash.’s Tyler Knight by pin at the 55-second mark of the first round.

In the quarterfinals, the Hawk senior won by fall over Walla Walla, Wash.’s Matt Durkin at the 20-second mark.

In his semifinal bout versus Heppner’s Cord Flynn, Linebarger worked hard, but finally wore down the previously unbeaten Flynn with a pin at the 4:14 mark of the third round.

Imbler’s Taylor Tandy was the final roadblock in front of Linebarger in what was a classic finish.

Linebarger led from the start to finish, earning a 9-3 decision win for the crown.

“Joe Linebarger captured first place at the 220 weight class by dominating his opponents throughout the two-day event,” Burkart said. “His strength and movement proved too much for his opponents, as he finished the event undefeated, winning comfortably.”

At 170 pounds, Riverhawk freshman JR Scott showed his promise with four pins and a decision.

Scott started strong with a first-round pin over Weiser, Idaho’s Braulio Viveros to set up a tussle against No. 1 seed, Mac-Hi’s Alyxander Shaw.

Scott held a 3-2 lead with 30 seconds to go in the third period, but Shaw was able to fight off his back and catch Scott in the final seconds to deny The Dalles freshman the win.

The tough loss did not deter Scott, as he went on to win his final four consolation matches.

Scott had a third-round pin in his first consolation match, and then he added an 8-7 decision win over Burns’ Jon Schmeck.

The freshman then dropped Enterprise’s Zyler Hermens with a first-round pin and captured consolation gold with a second-round pin over Elgin’s Tanner Owen.

Except for an opening-round disqualification, 160-pound senior Damion Morris put out solid work in his first big test of the winter.

Morris came back in his first two consolation matches with first-round pins over Heppner’s Jake Wallace and Will Lutcher, and then Lake Oswego’s Ethan Frech.

Those matches lasted a total of one minute and 23 seconds.

Morris added to his pin streak in Round 4 of his consolation run with a first-round pin win over Banks’ Schyler Hollinger to vault into the consolation finals against Baker’s Dylan Feldmeier.

Feldmeier pulled off a second-round pin to end Morris’ streak.

Leon Linebarger fared well in his extended stretch in the 195 pound classification with two consecutive first-round pins.

He dropped Weiser’s Mario Constantino at 1:05 and then answered the bell in his next match with a pin of teammate Killian Strassheim at 59 seconds to head to the quarterfinals.

Leon Linebarger then lost to Vale’s Trace Cummings by pinfall in the opening round, and then Weiser’s Nathan Ultzen added another pin in the third round to cut his tournament short.

At heavyweight, Aaron Popper had two wins, one by a 10-5 decision and another by injury default.

Josiah Andersen (113) won his first consolation match but pin over Zach MacPherson, by lost by pin in his next match.

Orion Smith (138) had a first-round pin in his opening match and then added a 16-3 major decision to his record, but ended up losing in his consolation match by pin to Pendleton’s Brendon Bedolla.

Sam Tyler (120) had a 9-3 decision as part of his winning edge and he added a second-round pin of Mac-Hi’s Noah Wilson.

He would later tack on a pin over Heppner’s Trevor Chamberlin, but had his run stopped in the consolation title match, a first round pin.

Weiser, Idaho won the event with 248.5 points, Walla Walla, Wash. placed second with 217 points.

The Dalles travels to Ridgeview for a two-day event this coming Friday and Saturday.