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Crater settles for second By Kris Henry PORTLAND � It�s not in the nature of the Crater wrestling team to settle for second best, but sometimes finishing No. 2 can be as groundbreaking as being No. 1. Slotted low in the Class 4A rankings as more a formality and sign of respect to start the season, the Comets shattered those expectations in placing second behind Hermiston in the state championships Saturday at Memorial Coliseum. "Let�s face it, not one person in the state would have picked us second," said Crater coach Greg Haga. "I couldn�t be more pleased. If they said we�d get second at the start of the year or even the start of the tournament, I would have taken it in a second." Hermiston crowned four champions to break a tie with Crater heading into the championship finals. The Bulldogs finished with 160 points to claim the school�s first-ever title in any sport, while Crater took second at 148 and Eagle Point placed third at 141.5. Nudging the Eagles from a potential second-place finish was Crater stalwart Shane Webster, who pinned Eagle Point�s James Mannenbach 1 minute, 50 seconds into their 171-pound final to clinch second place for the team. The win also enabled Webster to become the first Comet to win three state championships. "It�s kind of fitting that he would nail it down for us," said Haga. Just as Webster secured second for Crater, Eagle Point seniors Chet McBee and Blake Cam helped their team gain a cushion over Newberg for the third spot. McBee earned his first state championship with a hard-fought 8-5 decision over Sprague�s Chris Mortensen, while Cam capped off an undefeated season with a 3-0 victory over Crater�s Ben Tibbetts for his second straight heavyweight title. "I thought we competed hard and that�s all you can ask for," said Eagle Point coach Brad McBee. "We got after it as well as we could." Newberg finished fourth at 137, followed by Canby (133) and Oregon City (120.5). Crater and Eagle Point each made strides during the morning consolation rounds, with the Comets gaining a couple of important wins over their Southern Oregon Conference rivals that may have made the difference in Saturday�s final outcome. Bob Pool of Crater avenged his district championship loss to John Gallo of Eagle Point with a 10-8 decision, sending Pool to the third-fourth championship at 140 and dropping Gallo to the fifth-sixth match. Pool finished fourth, while Gallo finished fifth. In another head-to-head matchup, Crater�s Justin Samples pinned Eagle Point�s Jake Phillips in the 189-pound fifth-sixth championship. Also placing for the Comets were Rudy Ramirez (fifth at 145), Jeremy McLaughlin (sixth, 135), Nate Gipson (eighth, 112) and Chris Dearmon (eighth, 275). Joe Lewis stormed through the consolation rounds before finally claiming third at 112 with a 3-1 overtime decision over James Montgomery from Sprague. Levi Thomas was the only other state placer from the SOC, with the Roseburg junior finishing seventh. It took some doing, but Chet McBee got things off to a good start for the SOC contingent when he turned a 4-3 deficit into an 8-5 lead with 30 seconds to go in his match with Mortenson. After holding the Sprague standout at bay for the rest of the match, the Eagle Point senior punctuated his first title with two back flips, a matside leap into his father Brad�s arms and then a race up the Memorial Coliseum steps for an emotional hug with his mother and sister. Things weren�t as chaotic at 171 between Webster and Mannenbach, although the match took a dramatic turn when Mannenbach earned a takedown to take a 3-2 lead 45 seconds into their match. Webster put it into overdrive to take a 13-7 lead and then caught Mannenbach with 10 seconds to go in the first period. Cam and Tibbetts appeared destined for overtime until the Eagle Point senior earned an escape late in the third period and added a two-point takedown in the final seconds as Tibbetts tried in vain to earn his first win in four tries over Cam. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.