By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SCIO, Ore.– Coming off a historic season in which saw Kennedy’s Alex Geschwill become the first Trojan to qualify for the Girls State Tournament, the Kennedy senior came out swinging at her first tournament of the season.

Wrestling up at 140 pounds, a vast different from her 125-pound wrestling days of last season,  Geschwill picked up two wins over Cascade Christian’s Sierra Samhammer and the Challengers Bella Williams to take the 140-pound title at the Gary McDaniel Memorial Wrestling Tournament, formerly the Scio Holiday Classic, Saturday as Geschwill has high hopes for this upcoming season.  Taking lessons from last year and incorporating that into this year.

“Don’t skip the extra stuff.  All the club practices and all the other stuff, all the running, you just got to do it.  You just can’t sych yourself out that you don’t do enough because you know you do.  You do everything you possibly can and I just got to keep doing that and that’s going to get me where I want to be,” said Geschwill.  “These are my first matches of the season so it’s just been exciting just getting back into it and getting the groove of things back.  I just want to work on my own personal body control and help me getting better going up against other girls.  I know there’s girls who are  top-tier just doing those too, so I want to match them.”

Similar to Geschwill is Regis’ Luke Bischoff, who went on to win the 170 pound bracket Saturday in Scio.  Yes, the Rams have a wrestling team, it’s in its second year and Bischoff is returning following his fourth-place finish at 160 pounds at the 2A/1A State Meet this past Winter.  And he’s looking for more this Winter as he picked up back-to-back pins for the Championship Title on Saturday.

“I could’ve done better at State last year.  I set goals for myself this year to win State.  I got to work on my speed  and just mental toughness,” Bischoff said. “The success of the whole team, rather than just me, is really important.”

The Rams finished fifth in the event Saturday with 79 team points.  Mac Parrish was fifth at the 110 pound girls division, MaryBeth Nusom was second at the 125 pound girls divison.  Thomas Bischoff won the 182-pound title for Regis and Noah Emch was third at 285-pounds.

Other notables include host-Scio finishing second in team points with 182 points.  Emily Zamudio (110 Girls), Bryan Parazoo (132), Connor McCarty (138) won their weight classes with Ryder Acuff  (126) , Russell Dickerman (132), Kevin Vath (182), Jackson Braa (220) and Wyatt Reed (285) were Runner-Ups in their respective divisions.

The Trojans finished fourth with 113 team points, Kira Boitano (110 Girls), Kendall Ifenuk (145 Girls) and Adan Reyes (120) were Runners-Up in their respective weight divisions.  Zach Talbot was third at 160 points.

Gervais’ Frankie Giron (106), Sariah Zepeda (145 Girls), Ksenia Zepeda (190 Girls) brought home victories in their respective weight classes.  Marlon Giron was third at 120 pounds.

Amity’s Gavin King (145) was third and Cristal Martinez (110 Girls) was fourth at the Tournament. Santiam’s Wyatt Dayton won the 145-pound title, Lukus Lebahn was second at 152 pounds for the Wovlerines.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald