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Crater wrestlers seek three-peat By DON HUNT The SOC tourney starts at 11 a.m. on Friday, with the finals at 5 p.m. Saturday. When asked to assess the Southern Oregon Conference district wrestling tournament, Eagle Point coach Bob Bergen chuckled and said: "The Crater varsity wins it, the Crater JVs take second and then it's a dogfight for third." Bergen was joking, but his message was clear: The Comets are a virtual lock to win district for the third straight year and for the eighth time in 10 years. The tournament kicks off with first-round matches at 11 a.m. Friday at North Medford High and continues through Saturday. Championship matches are scheduled at 5 p.m. Saturday. Although illness has hit the Comets and caused some havoc in recent weeks, their health has returned and that means trouble for the rest of the SOC. The Comets, who have racked up a 21-1 dual meet record, will take eight top-seeded wrestlers into the tournament and four more No. 2 seeds. Some mat-side observers are calling this Crater team the best in school history. Better than last year's state championship team and better than the '93 squad that also took state. Crater coach Greg Haga isn't necessarily taking issue with that thought. "If you're talking about our varsity team -- our top 14 guys -- then this could be our best team," says Haga, now in his 12th season with the Comets. "We've got more returning state placers (five) than we've ever had." Haga thinks last year's Comet juggernaut that marched to the state championship might have had more quality depth, but overall the '98 and '99 squads are comparable. While winning district is almost a foregone conclusion for the Comets, qualifying a slew of wrestlers for the state tournament Feb. 25-27 is of greater importance. The Comets sent 14 to the grappling happening at Memorial Coliseum in Portland last year, and anything short of that total this year won't sit well with Haga. "Fourteen, fifteen, those are good numbers," he says. Leading the way for the Comets are No. 1 seeds Andy Oman (103), Chad Griffin (112), Justin Godley (135), Shane Webster (152), Matt Lee (160), Tanner Hillyer (171), Cameron Fjarli (215) and Burke Thomas (275). One of the most competitive weight classes will be 189, where Crater's Mike Whitehead and Scott Toney and Grants Pass' Jake Leair will square off. Whitehead and Leair, the defending state runner-up at 189, have split their two matchups this season. Toney has been relegated to JV duty much of the winter but has reached the finals of two tournaments and on each occasion has pushed Whitehead to the limit. Toney is seeded No. 4 behind Leair, Whitehead and Roseburg's Luke Wells. "Toney has been in Whitehead's shadow for a few years now but he's a very good athlete and a real threat in that weight class," Haga says. "He's a football player and a track athlete and so he doesn't wrestle as much as those other kids. But I wouldn't count him out." Nathan Reed, Crater's 145-pound varsity performer and a No. 3 seed, suffered a nasty cut on the side of his head in the Comets' dual against Eagle Point on Feb. 4 but has been fitted with special headgear and should be ready to compete, Haga says. The most spirited battle in the team standings will likely be for second, where Grants Pass and Eagle Point are expected to slug it out. Roseburg and Klamath Union could also be in the hunt. Eagle Point features a young team, with five sophomores and 103-pound freshman phenom Morgan Edenstrom in the lineup. B.J. McFall (130) is the Eagles' lone No. 1 seed, while Ryan Bray (135), Matt Bray (145), Jamie Mannenbach (152), Jason Welch (171) and Carlos Alvarez (215) head into the tourney as No. 2 seeds. The Eagles have another title threat in sophomore heavyweight Blake Cam, who is seeded third behind Thomas of Crater and North Medford's Brian Backstrom. Cam has come within one point of the higher-seeded wrestlers. "We don't have anyone who's going to reach the finals automatically," Bergen says. "Getting five or six kids to the state tournament may be all we can hope for. "But these kids have worked hard and pushed each other, and at the district tournament you never know what's going to happen." Grants Pass' top guns are Leair, Lance Wolters (119) and defending state champion Jeremy Conner (140). SOC wrestling seeds 103 -- 1. Andy Oman, Crater. 2, Joey Rossknecht, Grants Pass. 3, Morgan Edenstrom, Eagle Point. 4, Jason Kruggel. 112 -- 1, Chad Griffin, Crater. 2, Todd Knutson, Klamath Union. 3, Grant Cannon, Grants Pass. 4, Steve Himmelman, South Medford. 119 -- 1, Lance Walters, Grants Pass. 2, Morgan Hawkins, Crater. 3, Adam Nielsen, Klamath Union. 4, Josh Baker, North Medford. 125 -- 1. Mark Pyle, Roseburg. 2, Jeremy McLean, Grants Pass. 3, Justin Yarbrough, Roseburg. 4, Joey Morgan, Crater. 130 -- 1. B.J. McFall, Eagle Point. 2, Jayson Stratton, Crater. 3, Levi Fuller, Grants Pass. 4, Bob Pool, Crater. 135 -- 1, Justin Godley, Crater. 2, Ryan Bray, Eagle Poiont. 3, Tom Martin, Grants Pass. 4, Brian Govi, South Medford. 140 -- 1. Jeremy Conner, Grants Pass. 2, Joe Green, Crater. 3, Darek Smith, Eagle Point. 4, Cory Sweet, North Medford. 145 -- 1. Dustin Forrest, Roseburg. 2, Matt Bray, Eagle Point. 3, Nathan Reed, Crater. 4, Chuck Martin, Grants Pass. 152 -- 1. Shane Webster, Crater. 2, Jamie Mannenbach, Eagle Point. 3, Danny King, Klamath Union. 4, Jed Brewer, Roseburg. 160 -- 1. Matt Lee, Crater. 2, Ken Ray, Grants Pass. 3, David Trujillo, Klamath Union. 4, Brett Thomas, Eagle Point. 171 -- 1. Tanner Hillyer, Crater. 2, Jason Welch, Eagle Point. 3, Paul Mann, Klamath Union. 4, Evan Pogue, Eagle Point. 189 -- 1, Jake Leair, Grants Pass. 2, Mike Whitehead, Crater. 3, Luke Wells, Roseburg. 4, Scott Toney, Crater. 215 -- 1, Cameron Fjarli, Crater. 2, Carlos Alvarez, Eagle Point. 3, Anders Vetch, Crater. 4, Ian Taylor, South Medford. 275 -- 1, Burke Thomas, Crater. 2, Brian Backstrom, North Medford. 3, Blake Cam, Eagle Point. 4, Brian Chase, Grants Pass. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford,