Enterprise wrestling coach Jed Stone took eight wrestlers to the Irrigon Invitational last Saturday and all eight placed first through fifth. For their efforts, EHS, as a team, claimed second place among eight competing schools.

Not to be outdone, Joseph High School fielded a team of three wrestlers at the meet in Irrigon and all three placed either second or third.

Winning individual titles for the Enterprise Outlaws were Lars Skovlin (106 lbs.), Kyle Roepke (145 lbs.), and Matthew Staigle (195 lbs.)

Enterprises 138 lb. junior Sheldon Baty who earned a fourth place spoke of both the individual and team aspects of the sport.

Ive never done that well before and I felt like I conquered something, he said. Asked about the teams mood after such a successful weekend, Baty said, Happy. Were family. Were only as strong as our weakest link.

Because a combination of sickness and injuries caused some teams to withdraw from the tournament, tourney officials decided to merge four of the 13 weight classifications.

And yet, said Stone, with huge schools like tourney winner Hanford High School and Pasco High School both in the field, the quality of competition was high.

Skovlin pinned two wrestlers from Hanford en route to his individual crown, winning the title match 1:05 into the first round.

Roepkes crown came courtesy of a hard-fought 9-5 decision over Hanfords David Zhai in the title match. He reached that match after recording a quick pin and major decision in earlier rounds.

Like Skovlin, Staigle pinned his opponent from Hanford in the first round of the championship match. In the semifinals, however, Staigle was tested by Irrigon grappler Jaime Thomas before earning a 3-0 decision.

Claiming a third place for the Outlaws was 170-lb. Sawyer Wick. Wick competed in the combined 170-182 weight class, was pinned by the classs eventual champion from Hanford in his first match, and then dominated his competition with a 12-1 major decision and a first-round pin in :44 seconds.

Also placing for EHS were Kaden Christman (120-126 lbs. combined) and Sheldon Baty (138 lbs.) who earned fourth places and Johnny Green (152 lbs.) and Kurt Norton (220-285 lbs. combined) who each placed fifth.

For Joseph, both Daniel Parker (138 lbs.) and Wyatt Warnock (220-285 lbs. combined) qualified for championship matches, but lost.

After claiming a marathon 22-16 decision over a Heppner wrestler in the semifinal round, Parker fell 15-5 to Hanfords Brennan Rains in the finale.

Warnock pinned his opponent in the semis, but fell in the same manner to yet another Hanford wrestler in his championship match.

JoHi freshman Raymond Seal (120-126 lbs. combined) won three of four matches and bested Enterprises Christman in the third- place match for that weight group.