Jo-Hi to host annual wrestling tournament

Published 4:00 pm Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Though wrestling is quiet during the holiday break, the new year brings a loud return with the Jo-Hi Cosgrove/Eschler Invitational taking place Jan. 6-7.

Wrestling teams from more than a dozen schools ranging from 1A-6A leagues will come to compete at the tournament hosted by Joseph High School. All three of the county wrestling teams, Enterprise, Wallowa, and Joseph, plan to participate.

Enterprise boasts a strong team with many returning wrestlers who have already overcome the hurdle of winning first matches. Some wrestlers, such as Erich Roepke, Austin Reimer and Brock Hickman, have won first place in previous tournaments. However, Enterprise wrestling Coach Chuck Corak says that the team’s focus now is on the fundamentals, and avoiding the sickness that seems to be making its rounds amongst Outlaw athletes.

“We are continuing on working on the four basic fundamentals: conditioning, take-downs, control, and escape methods,” said Corak. “We teach the kids to look for angles. Then they have greater success.”

Wallowa wrestling Coach Mel Byers says he is also looking forward to the competition.

“I want them to have success,” said Byers. “My goal is to get them at a level so that they can compete at District. That’s when it counts.”

Byers has a young, but fairly strong wrestling team. Four players – Luise Mendez, Patrick Rummell, Levi Fine and Trevor Schaefer – consistently win matches and have placed in previous tournaments.

Joseph wrestling coach Tim Kiesecker also is preparing his younger team for the level of competition that will come to the Jo-Hi Invitational.

“We’re taking it one day at a time. Not many of them have experience, so I like to break up the older players with some of the younger ones. They enjoy it, too.”

Coach Kiesecker is one of the main organizers of the Jo-Hi Cosgrove/Eschler Invitational. Numerous volunteers come to help make the tournament a success. Joseph Athletic Improvement Project (JAIP) is in charge of concessions for the event, as well as putting on a Saturday breakfast. The proceeds from both events will raise money for the sports programs. This year, JAIP purchased the singlets for the wrestling team.

Several people are running the scoring tables, including alumni wrestlers and teachers. Volunteers are also putting in hours in creating the name tags for the board that shows where each player stands in the overall tournament.

There are about a half-dozen boys who wrestle in the junior league who are playing the role of “ref tappers,” who watch the clock for the official of a match. Since the referee cannot keep an eye on the clock and watch the match, the boy will tap the official when the clock runs out.

Dan Moncrief creates a water color painting that is transformed into prints at Mitres Touch Gallery in La Grande. These prints are the background for the brackets of each weight class. The original painting is then auctioned off to benefit the wrestling club.

During the tournament, Cindy Brink and Sherri Kilgore maintain the “hospitality room” for coaches, referees, and the volunteers. All kinds of people from the community bring soups, dinners, and desserts for everyone involved in putting on the tournament.

The Jo-Hi Invitational is a memorial for Don Cosgrove and Gary Eschler and his family, two groups who were involved in promoting the wrestling program. In 2010 the title was changed to add Eschler’s name in addition to Cosgrove’s. The Eschler family is still involved in helping the tournament.