At this point of the season, The Dalles senior JR Scott is not focused on his record and what he has accomplished so far.
His emphasis is on being more fundamentally sound with Intermountain Conference regional action coming up on Feb. 8-9.
Scott captured a pair of first-round pin wins and teammate Steven Preston picked up a decision and a first-round pin Wednesday in a league double dual with Pendleton and Ridgeview on senior night at Kurtz Gym.
“It’s nice to get the wins and everything, but I know I can do so much better,” Scott said. “You can never be satisfied with how well you did in a tournament or a match, so you work on ways to improve and get things more cleaned up, because the competition is only going to get tougher from here.”
Scott, who moved his record to 17-5 overall and is currently ranked third in his 195-pound division, had his first match versus Pendleton’s Aidan Henderson.
The Riverhawk senior landed a two-point takedown and a near fall and got the pin at the 51-second mark.
Aside from Scott’s dominant effort, Preston had an all-out battle with Shawn Yeager in their 160-pound slugfest, as the Buckaroo grappler held a 3-2 lead late in the final period.
With less than 30 seconds remaining, Preston made a quick move and reversed field for two points and rode Yeager out in the final seconds for his 4-3 decision.
TD lost 70-9 against Pendleton and had a much closer dual with Ridgeview, a 39-18 loss.
Preston kept the points coming in his bout with Larson Woods with a takedown and near fall late in the first round, until scoring the pinfall win right before time expired.
As impressive as Scott’s first win was, his match versus Ridgeview’s Logan Shenk proved to be a clinic.
At 46 seconds, Scott lunged in for a shot attempt, got Shenk into a cradle and slammed the Raven grappler to the ground for the pin.
Another senior, Austin Greene, had a tough test versus Ethyne Reid in their 152-pound showdown, with both wrestlers fighting to a 5-all tie through three rounds.
In overtime, Greene appeared to have Reid prone for a takedown, but Reid turned the tables and got Greene on his back for the 7-5 sudden-victory.
Eleyah Sutton-Lott showed her skills in a match with Micah Harting, lasting until the third round against her male counterpart.
She trailed 9-3 in the third round, until Harting finally got the escape, two-point takedown and pin.
Coming off a runner-up outcome last week, Sutton-Lott continued to make a positive impression on head coach Paul Beasley.
“Eleyah is the epitome of what this program is all about,” Beasley said. “She never gives up and fights hard for three rounds every time she has a match. That’s something we stress to our wrestlers. I don’t care about if they win or lose a match, I want them to show progress and continue to want to get better in all aspects of their wrestling.”
Beasley and the Riverhawk wrestling program honored Andrew Richman, Levi Krueger, Scott and Greene in a ceremony Wednesday to show appreciation for their years of hard work and dedication.
Preston appreciates what the seniors have done to bring along the younger inexperienced wrestlers.
“I am so proud of these seniors,” Preston said. “They do a lot to help everyone here. They lead by example and they are there whenever anyone needs them. You can’t replace something like that. When I am a senior next year, I already know how I am going to use my leadership to help us have more success, because I saw it from JR and some of the older guys before him.”
The Dalles was in Forest Grove over the weekend for the Bob Beisell invitational.
Next Saturday at 9 a.m. the wrestling team takes a trip to Tigard for a daylong tournament.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.