HRV hosts many of state’s top grapplers this
weekend
By BEN MCCARTY
News staff writer
February 12, 2008
The standings board for this weekend’s Mount
Hood Conference district tournament sits in a corner in the Hood
River Valley High School wrestling room.
It has been there from the beginning of the
season, and the Eagles have been sure to leave one school at the
top the whole time: their own.
They want to make sure it stays that way at the
end of the tournament this weekend at Hood River Valley.
“We can picture what it is like,” HRV’s Sean
Baker said. “It’s a good motivator.”
The Eagles might not need much motivation to do
well on their home mats.
The Eagles are fielding three No. 1 seeds and
four No. 2 seeds in the tournament and have several wrestlers
ranked in the top 20 in the state.
David Frasier, ranked No. 6 in the state, will
be the No. 1 seed at 125 pounds. Joe Johnson, will bring his
undefeated record and No. 1 state ranking to the No. 1 seed at
215 pounds and Cory Miller, currently ranked No. 2, will be the
No. 1 seed in the heavyweight division.
The second seeds for the Eagles include Robert
Frasier at 119 pounds, Sean Baker at 135 pounds, Aaron Mallon at
152 pounds and Lucas Mondragon at 189 pounds.
It will be the first time this season that
Frasier is wrestling at 119 pounds. He wrestled at 125 the rest
of the year.
Eagles coach Trent Kroll said that Frasier
qualified to wrestle at 119 the entire season, but that the team
needed him at 125 until now.
Baker is seeded second to Barlow’s Cody Grahn at
135 pounds and will be looking to avenge a loss to Grahn in the
final dual meet of the season.
That defeat came in sudden death overtime, and
if the two advance to the finals, they will meet again.
But Baker insists he’s not focusing on that
possibility.
“I just tried to put it in the back of my mind
and go to the future,” Baker said of the loss.
As a team the Eagles head into the tournament
ranked sixth at the 6A level. Gresham, the only team to defeat
the Eagles in a conference dual meet, is ranked fifth.
Reynolds is the only other MHC team in the top
15, and they come in at No. 11.
The Eagles would like to make up for the loss to
Gresham earlier in the season this weekend, but know that that
the Gophers can’t be their sole focus.
“We want to beat Gresham and everybody else,”
Baker said.
In the end, it may not be the top seeds who
decide which team is the district tournament champion.
“Its all about the second guy in the weight
class scoring some points for the team,” Kroll said.
All told the tournament will feature 26
wrestlers ranked in the top 10 in their weight classes.
That means that fans turning out to see the
action can expect to see some great matches.
Even though hosting the meet might not give the
Eagles a tremendous home court advantage given the number of
fans coming from out of the area, Kroll has still been excited
to see the buzz the tournament has created.
“I don’t think there is a lot of competitive
edge, but I see a lot of excitement in the community,” he said.
Kroll wants the Eagles to have 17 place-winners
coming out of the tournament, and wants to see several wrestlers
moving on to state.
The top three qualifiers in each weight class
will advance to the state tournament next weekend in Portland.
“We’re looking forward to the next 10 days,” he
said.
He’s also looking forward to keeping the Hood
River Valley tag at the top of the district tournament standings
board – where it has stayed all year.
“We want to keep that Hood River at the top,” he
said.
