By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.– With Classic Rock playing in the North Salem Mat Room, five Viking wrestlers prepare for destiny in Portland at the Memorial Coliseum.

Their names: Josh Urbina (106), Brandon Quezada (113), Ian Carlos (126), Jorge Ochoa (182) and Eduardo Ramirez (285).

All five wrestlers will represent the Black and Red come February 27 at the OSAA 6A State Championship.

Urbina voiced how proud he was qualified for state with all the hard work he put in to get to this point.

I knew how hard I was working for, not just for me, but for my mom and all of these years I put into this room,” said the junior.  “It felt amazing.  It felt like all my hard work wasn’t in vain.  I was actually working towards a goal and now that I have my goals figured out and I’m working to be the top person, I feel like a leader not just in this room but outside the room.

“It was just an amazing feeling.”

In his just second year wrestling, Ochoa is impressed how he came from his freshman year to now as a sophomore.

“Last year I wouldn’t have seen myself here,” said Ochoa.  “Thanks to all the coaches, they believed in me and my family supported me.  I’ve made it this far, I’m so happy.”

With quiet focus during the practice around a variety of drills, Head Coach Andy Pickett is impressed with the journey to this point.

“It’s a lot of fun, the kids work really hard and they do whatever I ask them to.  I tell them to bleed for me, and they’ll bleed for me,” said Pickett.  “They’re good people, they love their families, they don’t steal, they don’t talk behind your back.  They’re good people, so it’s really been fun.”

Quezada describes the focus at hand with his team as keeping state as the task at hand.

“We’re trying to stay focused, not let anything distract us,” he said. “Just keeping that one thing on our mind.

Quezada, who won the 113-pound District Title this past Saturday at Forest Grove, described how the days following his 13-11 Finals win as he now turns his focus to state.

“I got a lot of congrats and I celebrated a little bit the first day,” he described.  “But now I’ve moved on and towards my goal for state.”

As powerhouse teams like Roseburg who are sending over 20 wrestlers to Portland, Pickett’s focus is to make sure his team competes and place at the tournament through prepping mentality and a strong coaching staff featuring former Viking Champions coaching their kids has help to bring them to this point.

“Their willingness to listen and be like, ‘hey, coach is on my side and he’s telling me the correct things’,” started Pickett.  “And I think that’s helping us prep appropriately.  Our kids believe in us like we believe in them and they know we have a plan, so they’re willing to walk through the fire when we tell them too.”

Two weeks from this past Saturday to the weekend of February 27 might seem a long time, but it can go by pretty fast said Urbina and that they need to stay focused at the task at hand.

“Two weeks might seem to be a lot for someone but two weeks might go by pretty quickly especially if you’re not focusing at practice,” he started.  “Every minute you’re not in the room, that’s a minute of time wasted.

“But I try to think of myself in my head, ‘what’s that top guy doing’, so I try and not wait those two weeks kind of push my time and see what I can do.”

As Urbina went back to drill with Quezada, Pickett described his dream for how the season will end.

His dream: for his wrestlers to finish in the Top 10 and have all five of his State Qualifiers place, and his wrestlers are buying in.

“My goals will be making it as far as I can,” said Ochoa.  “Well, there’s that and also, first goal is to try to win it.  If I can’t do that, just push for the next two years I’m wrestle to get to where I want to be.”

NORTH SALEM QUALIFIERS (AND DISTRICT FINISH)

106- Josh Urbina District Runner-Up

113-  Brandon Quezada District Winner

126-  Ian Carols District Runner-Up

182- Jorge Ochoa  District Runner-Up

285- Eduardo Ramirez Third-Place In Districts