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Click Here 48 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, February 26, 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 10, 2004 Weighty decision benefited Roseburg Prep Notebook By DON HUNT Mail Tribune Anyone familiar with high school wrestling knows that one of its greatest challenges is to cut weight. I’m guessing that 95 percent of wrestlers do it. A youngster competing at 152 pounds, for example, routinely cuts between 3 and 8 pounds before stepping on the scales for a weekend tournament. It’s all about gaining a competitive edge. Roseburg High’s Jason Troxel encountered the opposite obstacle prior to last weekend’s Southern Oregon Conference district tournament in Grants Pass. Unable to crack the Indians’ two-deep lineup at either 189 or 215, Troxel told head coach Steve Lander he wanted to enter the 275-pound division. Problem was, Troxel weighed just 185, 6 pounds less than the minimum weight requirement for what’s commonly known as the heavyweight division. Advertisement But the lanky sophomore devoured steak, pizza, donuts and any other calorie-rich food he could get his hands on last week and bulked up to 193. Some wondered if Troxel had a death wish for choosing to step on the mat with behemoths that outweighed him by as much as 80 pounds. But he beat two of his four opponents and emerged as the sixth-place finisher at the district meet. "When I first told coach (Lander) last week I wanted to do this, he looked at me like I was crazy," Troxel said. "He said, ‘Let me think about it,’ but the following Monday at practice, my name was on the board at 275." Part of the reason Lander allowed his ultra-light heavyweight to take on the giants of the sport was that Troxel had done it for years in his own living room. His older and considerably bigger brother, Justin, was a state runner-up last year for the Indians at 275. Justin Troxel was in the stands Saturday rooting on his brother. "I figured he (Jason) got roughed up by his brother more than he’d get roughed up in this tournament," Lander said. "And I knew Jason could win some matches." Troxel battled eventual runner-up Tyler Cam of Eagle Point close to the vest for two rounds before falling, 5-0. He then beat Grants Pass’ Tom Carlson, 12-8, and pinned Klamath Union’s Javier Rodriguez before getting pinned by the Pelicans’ Steve Gaither. "My strategy was to wear those big guys down and then slip in and get a takedown," said Troxel, who plays tight end in football. "The last thing you want to do against one of those big guys is tie up with them." Troxel scored six points in the tournament to help fuel Roseburg to the title. The Indians edged Crater by just 6½ points. CRATER COACH Greg Haga wasn’t about to make excuses for his team failing to win district for just the fourth time in 15 years, but the Comets ran into some tough luck Saturday when 130-pound John Bernhardt broke his right leg while competing against Roseburg’s Luke Matthews in the fifth-place match. Had the fourth-seeded Bernhardt beaten the unseeded Matthews, Crater would have won the tournament. But such setbacks are common in wrestling — Roseburg suffered one of its own when 112-pound Aaron Suggs failed to make weight before the tournament began. Rather than focus on the could-have-beens, Haga is looking ahead to next week’s Class 4A state tournament in Portland, where the Comets are the defending champion. The Comets advanced 11 wrestlers to state, including top-ranked Chase Maloney (152) and Ronnie Lee (171), second-ranked Bryson Gutches (135) and third-ranked Taylor Wilkerson (275). "I think we’re a stronger state-meet team now than we were last year," Haga says. "We’re real optimistic." IT WASN’T PRETTY, but North Medford’s Ryan Folsom earned a berth to the state tournament Saturday with a 5-4 victory over Crater’s Jordan Godley in the 145-pound, third- place match. Folsom trailed 3-1 when he scored a takedown with 25 seconds left in the match that tied it at 3-all. Folsom then took a big gamble by intentionally allowing Godley a one-point escape, but made it pay off by registering a two-point takedown with less than 10 seconds remaining. "It was a chance I needed to take," said Folsom, a sophomore and the younger brother of Black Tornado 160-pound standout Rob Folsom. "I’m better at taking guys down than riding them, and I just figured it would work out." By punching his ticket to state, the younger Folsom earned dinner at a Chinese restaurant from his father. 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. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! 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