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Ailing Comets thump Cavers By RANDY HAMMERICKSEN CENTRAL POINT - The only thing that seems to be able to slow down the top-ranked Crater High wrestling team these days is sickness. Bronchitis nearly emptied the Comets' wrestling room earlier this week, but on Thursday night the Comets were ready to rumble. Sick or not. Crater spotted Crants Pass an early 17-10 lead, but roared back behind the impetus of consecutive falls from Shane Webster at 152 pounds, Matt Lee at 162 and Tanner Hillyer at 173 to roll past the Cavemen, 39-20, in the Crater gym. Wrestling without ailing Chad Griffin at 112 pounds and Nathan Reed at 145, the Comets strutted their overall team depth and strength in the middle of their lineup to move their dual match record to 20-1 for the season. The Comets are ranked No. 1 in the state as a dual team and No. 1 as a tournament team. Lee ran his season record to 25-0 with a pin of Kim Ray at 160 pounds in three minutes. Lee took a 6-3 lead in the match with a takedown just prior to his pin. With Comet fans hungry for a third straight fall, Hillyer pinned Justin Klatt in 2:58 to accommodate them. Webster pinned Ray Blower in 3:32 to start the run of pins. "I'm proud of our kids," said Crater coach Greg Haga. "I don't think there was anybody I was disappointed with tonight. "It's hard to go out there and wrestle when you don't feel good and you have this bronchial thing that's going around. You go out and your throat is burning and you just don't feel like competing. "But they did it anyway," said Haga. "I'm happy about that. If you would have told me we would win this by 39-20, I would have told you that you're crazy. I was hoping for just one point (a one- point win). "This Grants Pass team is good," said Haga. "They beat Barlow and West Linn, two very good dual meet teams, this year." In the feature individual match of the evening, Jake Leair of Grants Pass, who finished second in the 1998 state meet, edged Crater's Mike Whitehead, 9-4. It was Whitehead's first loss after he had piled up 24 straight wins. "It was a good effort by Whitehead," said Haga. "You might see them meet again in the state championship match. And the guy who wins might not be the same one who wins district. They're that close." Andy Oman raised his record to 18-3 for the Comets with a match-opening 2-0 win over Joey Rossknecht. Oman was one of many Comets wrestling ill. "I did better than I thought I would," said Oman. "I didn't feel that good. "It's always nice to get us off to a good start," said Oman. "The guys are yelling at me to start us off right and I want to do that. It adds pressure but it fires me up." Morgan Hawkins, a junior with a 27-2 record for the Comets, said he started slowly on the way to a 9-6 win over Jeremy McLean of the Cavemen. "It was hard to get started with this bronchitis thing," he said. "It was the first time I wrestled all week, and I wasn't very sharp at first. It was definitely a struggle." Junior Justin Godley of Crater improved to 15-0 with his 16-8 win over Tom Martin at 135 pounds. Crater forfeited to Grants Pass' Jeremy Conner at 140, but Joe Green started a streak of four straight Comet wins and six of the final seven matches with a superior decision over Billy Fish. "I'm ecstatic," said Haga. "This is a real good win for us. I thought we got a real good lift from the pins by Matt Lee and Tannery (Hillyer). Tanner had the bronchitis thing pretty bad, but he went out and got it done. And I thought Matt (Lee) was dominant." In February, the Comets are expected to be prohibitive favorites to give Haga his eighth Southern Oregon Conference title in 10 seasons. Crater will go after its third state championship win since 1993. The Comets are the defending Class 4A state champions. "You have to go up to state and get on a roll," said Haga. "Winning state is a mental thing. I think these kids have the right mental attitude to do it. But we have to be ready and get some breaks along the way.' 103 -- Andy Oman, C, d. Joey Rossknecht, 2-0; 112 -- Grant Cannon, GP, d. Wes Hunt, 3-1; 119 -- Lance Wolters, GP, d. Brandon Anders, 25-9; 125 -- Morgan Hawkins, C. d. Jeremy McLean, 9-6; 130 -- Levi Fuller, GP, d. Joey Morgan, 3-1. 135 -- Justin Godley, C, d. Tom Martin, 16-8; 140 -- Jeremy Conner, GP, won by forfeit; 145 -- Joe Green, C, won by superior decision over Billy Fish; 152 -- Shane Webster, C, pinned Ray Blower, 3:00; 160 -- Matt Lee, C, pinned Kim Ray 3:00. 173 -- Tanner Hillyer, C, pinned Justin Klutt, 2:58; 189 -- Jake Leair, GP, d. Mike Whitehead, 9-4; 215 -- Cameron Fjarli, C, d. Trenton Ray, 12-7; 275 -- Burk Thomas, C, d. Brandon Chase, 9-5. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford,