Oregon (OSAA) 2A/1A wrestling state championships preview: ‘Key matchups’ will make for ‘interesting tournament’
By René Ferrán
The 2A/1A Oregon high school wrestling state championships take place at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland. Here's a look at what to expect.
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Top seeds (returning champions in italics)
106 Hunter Buck, Pine Eagle, soph.
113 Micah Martinho, Illinois Valley, soph.
120 Harley Hardison, Lowell, soph.
126 Talen Shaffer, Illinois Valley, soph.
132 Trevor Wolf, Vernonia, jr.
138 Ryon Martinho, Illinois Valley, sr.
145 Reeden Arsenault, Culver, sr.
152 Kelin Abbas, Culver, sr.
160 Jacob Beauchamp, Central Linn, sr.
170 Jake Doman, Crane, sr.
182 Joseph Lathrop, Elgin, sr.
195 Ash Blomstrom, Toledo, jr.
220 Gunnar McDowell, Enterprise/Wallowa, soph.
285 Wylie Johnson, Culver, sr.
Other returning champion
106 Mike Miller, Illinois Valley, jr.
Most state qualifiers
1, (tie) Culver and Illinois Valley 12. 3, (tie) Grant Union/Powder Valley and Willamina 8. 5, Toledo 7. 6, (tie) Camas Valley and Elgin 6. 8, (tie) Colton and Nestucca 5.
What to watch
Illinois Valley latest challenger to Culver’s stranglehold on division
Since winning its first state title in 2007, Culver’s predominance atop the 2A/1A ranks has rarely been challenged.
The Bulldogs have won 14 of the past 16 state titles, with only Lowell (2013) and Reedsport (2020) denying them a clean sweep. Their average winning margin in those 14 title runs is 60.1 points.
This year’s race should be a close one between Culver and last year’s runner-up, Illinois Valley, which matched its previous best finish from 2006 and hopes to win the program’s first state title.
“It will be a tight race between us,” said Culver coach JD Alley. “There will be some key matchups that should make for an interesting tournament.”
One of those matches could come in Thursday’s 106-pound semifinals, where No. 2 seed Cole Roff of Culver could face Miller, a two-time state champion who’s recently recovered from a broken femur suffered over the summer that required surgery and metal plates put into his leg.
At 113, Micah Martinho and Culver senior Debren Sanabria are on opposite sides of the bracket, poised to meet in the final again after Martinho pulled off a 9-5 decision last winter. At 152, Abbas could meet junior Ryan Griffin in a rematch of their 145 final that Abbas won 4-2.
“I don’t like putting the cart in front of the horse on how things set up,” said Illinois Valley coach Jesse Clark. “But I will say I watched a tough team grind all year long to get back to this stage. We won’t look past any team, especially JD and his Bulldogs, but they have been the motivator all season.”
Plenty of seconds hoping to climb to top of heap this weekend
Sanabria isn’t the only Culver runner-up from a year ago looking to step up to the top spot on the podium this season. Arsenault, who lost in the 138 final last year, moves up to 145 as the top seed.
Four other top seeds also were runners-up last season:
- Lathrop moves up two weight classes after losing in the 160 final, hoping to lead Elgin to its first podium finish since 1993.
- Hardison lost to Illinois Valley’s Miller in the 106 final.
- Doman returns at 170 after falling to Oakland’s Kaleb Oliver last year.
- Beauchamp drops two weight classes to 160 and enters state 29-0.
Three other wrestlers this weekend finished second last year and hope to move up, led by Myrtle Point’s Logan Clayburn, who enters Memorial Coliseum with a 23-0 record, as well as Grant Union/Prairie City senior Rylan Cox (220) and Willamina senior Austin Johnson (152).
Toledo’s Blomstrom undefeated in bid to defend state title
Blomstrom entered high school as an 11-time youth state champion growing up in Idaho, winning several regional titles and the Oregon Classic as an eighth grader. After reaching the semifinals at the OWA 2021 state meet, he won his first state title at 195 in leading Toledo to a fourth-place finish last year — the first time in the program’s 63-year history it won a trophy.
He got a late start to this season, not wrestling until mid-January at the Oregon Wrestling Classic, but he returns to defend his title undefeated at 18-0 following a 26-second pin of Nestucca’s Dylan Prock in the district final.
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