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Raiders add depth to wrestling team ASHLAND � Southern Oregon University wrestling coach Mike Ritchey announced Tuesday 15 prep and junior college transfers are joining the perennial NAIA powerhouse program. "This group will be a great addition to our program," Ritchey said in a statement released by the school. "We return 31 wrestlers from last year, so we recruited a limited number of high-quality athletes." Jesse Armstrong, the 2000 145-pound Class 3A state champion from Madras High, leads the list of incoming freshmen. The two-time district champ went 33-0 as a senior and is expected to be a 149-pound competitor next winter. Also set to don the SOU singlet are Crater High heavyweight Austin Etchison and Eagle Point 133-pounder B.J. McFall. Etchison, a two-time state meet qualifier, was a member of three Class 4A state championship teams. McFall, a four-time Class 4A qualifier, was a state runner-up in 1999. Other incoming freshmen include Matt Brownfield, Kennewick, Wash.; Coleman Nelson, Scappoose; Gary Reid, Juneau, Alaska; John Sills, Churchill in Eugene; Bret Stafani, South Salem; Tyson Wellington, Century of Hillsboro; and Chris Wilson, Canby. Brownfield (150) was a conference champion and Washington state meet qualifier. Nelson (165) finished in the Class 3A top-five three times, while Reid compiled a 67-19 record and captured a pair of regional titles the past two years at 140. Sills finished third at 160 in the Class 4A state meet with a 41-1 record. Stafani was a three-time district placer at 141. Wellington went 27-7 during his senior campaign and won a district title while Wilson helped Canby finish third in the state meet as a freshman. He also posted a 30-6 mark last year. Highlighting the group of transfers to the Raiders is Marc Borja, Jason Chao, Wesley Balensifer, Lee Ottow and Michael Sills. Sills, the older brother of John Sills, spent the past two seasons wrestling 190 at Oregon. In 1997, Sills finished third at the state meet for Tigard and began his collegiate career at Southwestern Oregon Community College. Balensifer (197), a redshirt freshman from Oregon State at 197, was a prep teammate of current Raider All-American Dan Sturgell and took the Class 2A state championship at Warrenton. Chao (125-133) was a national qualifier for SWOCC. He finished seventh in the 2000 Greco-Roman university nationals. Ottow, a sophomore transfer from NCAA Division III Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, won the 133-pound Washington prep title in 1996. Borja (141), another SWOCC product, won a regional title and finished fourth at the junior college national meet in 1998. Southern Oregon returns eight starters from the 1999-2000 squad that posted a 9-5 record, won the Northwest Wrestling Conference title and extended the school�s NAIA-best consecutive winning season streak to 30. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA