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59 °F Forecast | Road Cams Saturday, March 6, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend February 19, 2004 Crater�s Bryson Gutches, front, hoists Eagle Point�s Stephen Price in a match early this year. Gutches, the top seed at 135 pounds, is one of 11 Crater wrestlers who will compete at this weekend�s Class 4A state championships. Favored Comets aim for title Crater looks to defend its Class 4A state crown with four No. 1 seeds and 11 wrestlers total By DON HUNT Mail Tribune Wrestling insiders around the state are hinting that the Crater Comets could be bringing their strongest-ever contingent to Portland this weekend for the Class 4A state wrestling tournament. That’s a scary thought, considering the Comets have claimed four of the past six titles and won last year’s competition by 77 points. No state tourney is a done deal before it starts, but with four top-seeded wrestlers eager to take the mats, veteran Comets coach Greg Haga admits his loaded lineup could cause havoc for the rest of the field. Advertisement The three-day tournament is set to begin today at 9:30 a.m. at Portland’s Memorial Coliseum. The Class 2A and 3A tournaments will be conducted concurrently at the same venue. The championship finals are set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Two weeks ago, Crater lost the district tournament by 6½ points to Southern Oregon Conference rival and 2003 state runner-up Roseburg. But the Comets set their table for state by qualifying all of their big guns, including No. 1 seeds Bryson Gutches (135), Chase Maloney (152), Ron Lee (171) and Taylor Wilkerson (275). Seven other Comets, including No. 6 seed Cody Clark (189), will join the fabulous foursome in Portland. "If we just go up there and compete to our capability, good things will happen," says Haga, who has won 11 district titles and five state crowns since taking over the Comets’ head coaching job 15 years ago. "We’ve got four kids who are good enough to win (individual titles), and seven others who are good enough to place (in the top eight)." West Linn, Newberg, Crook County and Roseburg appear to pose the biggest threats to the Comets. West Linn, which shocked the Comets at their own tournament four weeks ago, qualified 14 competitors to the tournament. Newberg advanced 15, Roseburg 11 and Crook County 10. Haga believes the Comets’ rigorous regular-season schedule that had them compete at the Clovis Shootout in Fresno, Calif., the Reno (Nev.) Tournament of Champions, the Oregon Classic in Redmond and the Reser Tournament of Champions in Hillsboro will have a positive effect this weekend. "Our kids are seasoned," he says. Roseburg will be led by No. 2 seeds Trevor Lofstedt (112) and Kevin Beavers (119) and No. 5 seed Isaac Hebert (145). Lofstedt, who won the 103-pound title last year, has posted a 31-1 record this season. "Crater could pretty easily have five or six champions, and that’s tough to compete with," Roseburg coach Steve Lander says. "But we like our 11 guys. We’re going to work as hard as we can and see what happens." Grants Pass, the darling of the tournament last year when it brought home the fourth-place trophy while competing with just six qualifiers, will take eight to the tournament this time around. Tyler Baker (112), Zach Steddum (125), Chris Hotch (130), Eric Sedivy (130) and Andrew Ditty (215) return as state placers for the Cavemen. North Medford advanced six to the tournament, led by top-ranked and top-seeded Rob Folsom, who has gone 29-0 at 160 pounds. Folsom came within an eyelash of a state title last year when he dropped a 5-4 decision to Newberg’s Neal Beaudry in the 160-pound title match. "I’ve lived with that (taking second) for an entire year," Folsom said after defeating Crater’s Cody Ponder in the district title match. "I’m really driven to win it this time. I’ve been spending a lot of extra time after practice working out with coach (Kacey) McNulty." Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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