Winter Sports Roundup: Scores and Reports from The Blast Zone
Inside Sports — Catching up with the first week of action on the mats and in the pool
Jordan Nailon / blastzonenews@gmail.com
Prep Boys Wrestling
Rainier hosts 3rd Annual Bledsoe Invite; Castle Rock wins
A wise man near the end of Apiary Road once said that if you do something three years in a row it becomes a tradition. And like bees to the first flower in bloom, many of the area’s high school wrestling teams swarmed down Highway 30 for the 3rd Annual Kelly Bledsoe Tournament at Rainier High School over the weekend.
The mats were busy with both boys and girls brackets in action at the first tournament of the prep season.
“The 3rd Annual Kelly Bledsoe Invitational was another incredible full day of wrestling with brackets full or returning State qualifiers, placers, and champions,” Rainier head coach Matt Hendrickson said. “In total we wrestled 1,160 matches.”
The Rainier boys placed 8th out of 20 teams, but it was Castle Rock who won the boys team trophy. Still, the Columbians had a productive weekend taking care of business on, and around, their home mats. Jonny Rice (138) and Walker Makinson (120) each finished second in their weight class to lead Rainier’s lineup.
Meanwhile, Rainier saw Hayden Belcher (215lb), Skyler Phillips (285), and Teaucum Tygiest (165lb) each finish with three wins and two losses on the day. Isti Rice (113 lbs), Hudson Handley (126), Keaton Mattinen (150) and Easton Marsh (157) all managed to break even, with Nate Schell (150), Levi Hall (150), Walker Pattison (165), Evan Coberly (157), and Ethan Thorp (190lbs) adding victories to help the Columbians finish with team 101 points.
“I thought we wrestled well,” Rainier coach Matt Hendrickson said. “We really challenged the kids this week to open up their wrestling and really pushed the pace at practice.”
But it was Castle Rock that stole the show on the south side of the Lewis and Clark bridge. The Rockets tallied 223 points in order to top Union (173.5) for the team title/Godinho family bragging rights. Hockinson placed third with 157 points.
Other Blast Zone area teams in attendance included Woodland (11th/68 pts), Ilwaco (12th/55 pts), Clatskanie (14th/53.5 pts), R.A. Long (19th/18.5 pts) and Knappa (20th/6 pts).
Five Rockets win titles; The Rock captures Bledsoe crown
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