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Crater grapples with continued success Photo by Bob Pennell Defending state champs Shane Webster, left, Morgan Hawkins, center, and Justin Godley are the backbone of the Comets. Comets aiming for third state title in succession By DON HUNT CENTRAL POINT -- With three state championships and six top-four finishes in the past eight years, Greg Haga has built quite a wrestling power at Crater High. But as good as the Comets were a few years ago, they've raised the bar to the top and don't seem the least bit interested in letting it slip. Need proof? The Comets return three individual state champions in 130-pound Morgan Hawkins, 145-pound Justin Godley and 160-pound Shane Webster. Need more confirmation? The Comets clubbed North Medford 68-6 in their opening Southern Oregon Conference dual meet last week, then went to the prestigious Clovis West Shootout at Fresno, Calif., last weekend and knocked off some of the best high school wrestling teams in the nation. The shockwaves sent out by back-to-back state championships and strong showings in regional tournaments have not gone unnoticed: The Comets are ranked No. 3 nationally heading into tonight's dual at Klamath Union. Still, Haga isn't ready to declare this year's squad better than the 1998-99 version that knocked off rival Newberg for the state championship. "On a dual-meet basis, last year's team was better than this one at this point of the season," Haga says. "You look at our team last year and there really wasn't a chink in our armor. We sent a kid to the state tournament in 13 of the 14 weight classes and 16 kids in all. "We're not quite that dominant right now all the way through our lineup, but I think by the end of the year we could be." One thing's for certain: The Comets have three stallions in the stable in Hawkins, Godley and Webster. Webster could go down as the greatest wrestler ever at Crater after becoming the first Comet in school history to win a state title as a sophomore last spring. Not even last week's trip to Fresno could put a blemish on Webster's record -- he's 10-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state. "Shane has an awesome cardiovascular system and that was the main weapon he used to win state last year," Haga says. "The kid can go forever, and he just plain wore people out." Webster leaned on his superior shape in the 152-pound state championship match when he edged Brian Durkoop of Milwaukie 7-5 in overtime. "He still had some gas in his tank in overtime," Haga says. "He took that kid down and won it." Webster wasn't satisfied with his accomplishment, though, and has come back working harder than ever. "He's a little more technical this year and quite a bit stronger," Haga says. "He can shoot, he can throw and he can just grind it out if he has to. He enjoys the physical nature of wrestling." Last season, and the year before when he was a freshman, Webster often sought out Mike and Matt Lee as workout partners. "Shane would just get drilled, but the next day he'd pick out the same two guys and try again," Haga says. "These days there's not many people in the (wrestling) room who can handle him." Other top Comets include 189-pound Scott Toney, the team's only other unbeaten wrestler at 10-0; 171-pound Tanner Hillyer (9-1); 215-pound Anders Vetsch (9-1); and heavyweight Austin Etchison (9-1). The Comets have a whopping 72 wrestlers in uniform. "My first few years here we'd start out with about 90 and end with 60, but now we start with 75 and end with 70," Haga says. "The kids know what it's about before they ever get in the room." Haga has another 100-plus wrestlers in the Junior Comets youth program. But as talented and dominant as the Comets are, Haga knows that their old SOC nemesis -- Eagle Point -- is also on the rise. The Eagles, under first-year coach Brad McBee, are sixth in the state dual meet rankings and finished runner-up to Newberg at a tournament last weekend. Crater and Eagle Point square off in the final SOC dual of the year on Feb. 3 in Eagle Point. "Comparing our teams to theirs, there's a lot of gray areas at different weights," Haga says. "There aren't very many spots where we can say, now there's a win. It should be a barnburner." Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.