No. 1 honors for Linebarger

Hitting the mats at 220-pounds, the former state qualifier had a first-round bye and then won four matches, three by pins.

Linebarger’s first bout was against Cascade senior Jacob Forcier, and the Riverhawk standout wasted little time with a first-round pin just 33 seconds into the opening round.

That win put Linebarger into the quarterfinals where he had another tough test against Madras’ Hayden Manu.

At the 2:33 mark of the second round, Linebarger finished his moves and scored a pinfall to punch his semifinals ticket.

With an opportunity to vault into the championship, Linebarger had to deal with Bend senior Michael Hageman.

This tussle last all six minutes and three rounds, with the Riverhawk grappler scoring a 7-1 decision.

Linebarger had been to this point before and the challenge ahead was in the person of Bend senior Jakob Larsen (10-3 record).

Larsen proved to be no test for Linebarger and matters were settled at the 1:28 mark of the opening round.

At 160 pounds, Mitchell Waters won his first match by a 7-1 decision over Nyssa’s Chris Ramirez.

Coming off the win, Waters could not sustain his run in the winner’s bracket, as he lost in the next round by second-round pin to Mountain View’s Izaak Moffit.

Waters had his tournament cut short in his next consolation round against Crook County’s Zach Young and he took a pinfall loss at the 1:51 mark.

Jacob Schacht, wrestling at 170 pounds, had an opening-round bye and came up on the winning end in his next duel against LaPine’s Nick Williams.

Schacht outlasted Williams in the opening round with a pinfall triumph at 1:34.

Schacht was just three more wins from heading into the finals, but he ended up losing to Gresham’s Colby Winnett at the 13-second marker.

Now in the consolation rounds, Schacht came up on the short end with a pin loss to West Salem’s Keauno Le.

At 126 pounds, Cole Davis (5-8) lost his two matches by fall, the final setback coming at 59 seconds to Bend’s Maitiu Millar-Sanchez.

Colton Lee (152 pounds) had a first-round bye and then battled with Mountain View’s Chase Misener.

Misener won by pin at 51 seconds to send Lee to the consolation bracket.

Lee ended up losing out in his next consolation match by pin in the second round to Cascade senior Ronald Benton-Hayes.

Aaron Popper (285 pounds) lost two matches, both by first-round pins, the last match coming against Cascade senior Seth Everetts.

Bend finished with 229 points to tally a tournament title, followed by Nyssa (219 points), Cascade (211.5) and Mountain View (208.5).

The Dalles next heads to Pendleton for the Freebury Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 3.