White second at Joseph Invite

JOSEPH, ORE.–Pirate grappler Braedyn White went down to the wire in the 170-lb championship match, dropping the match by points at the 15-team Jo-Hi Cosgrove/Eschler Wrestling Invitational here January 3-4.

The Pirate wrestle in Colfax tonight at 6:30 and Saturday, Jan. 11 at Chiawana H.S., Pasco. Northwest Christian-Colbert is the venue for the Tuesday, Jan. 14 match at 5 p.m.

White and Carlos Norris, a Dayton High School wrestler in a cooperative with Pomeroy, both finished second in their respective weight classes. White, in the 170 lb. division, pinned his first two opponents, D. Creech of Union High School and C. Hammond of Elgin High School, then was outscored 12-4 by Toomey of Culver High School.

Norris finished second to T. Evans of Enterprise H.S., losing by technical fall with a score of 17-2. Norris reached the championship match with a win by major decision score of 14-4 over E. Fry of Neah-Kah-Nie of Rockaway Beach, Ore. He pinned B. Chapman of Culver and S. Gallagher of Santiam Christian in the first two matches.

"Norris and White have continued to look tough with another good finish this weekend," commented Head Coach Ben Slaybaugh.

In the 182-lb. class, Will Winona rallied after a first-match loss with two wins, then finishing fourth with a 6-4 decision loss to A. Mendez of Culver H.S., losing both to the same wrestler. "Will Winona is finding his stride and we are excited about his potential," Slaybaugh said.

Winona was pinned by Mendez in the opening match at 3:16, the dropped T. Swearinger of Echo at :36 and L. Hess of Joseph at :27. This brought the rematch with Mendez who prevailed with the 6-4 decision.

Curtis Winona, in the 160-lb. class, and Nick Hastings, 132 lb., both lost two matches and were eliminated. Winona was pinned by T. Smith of Culver at 1:01, and T. Oxenrider of Santiam Christian at 3:35. Hastings lost by fall to L. Beam at 2:59 and T. Marshal at 3:26, both from Santiam Christian.