‘You’ll hear about this class forever.’ Newberg leaves no doubt as ‘special’ group powers Tigers to another 6A wrestling title

“We’re the best. It sounds bad to say that, but I do think it’s really amazing what we did today.”

By René Ferrán| Photo by Taylor Balkom

A month ago, the Oregon high school wrestling community received official word that the OSAA would not put on the state championships and was returning the culminating week to the districts.

The news didn’t come as a surprise, considering the OSAA had done the same with Seasons 2 (fall) and 3 (spring), but it didn’t leave much time for coaches who wanted a state tournament to finish the season to put one together.

Newberg coach Neil Russo was among the coaches determined to stage a state championship, and he and the Tigers wrestling community spent the past few weeks preparing for this weekend’s tournament.

All the while, Russo had to manage a team that had heightened expectations after last season ending Roseburg’s six-year run as Class 6A state champion at Memorial Coliseum.

As the finishing touches to the Oregon Wrestling Association 6A State Championships played out at the far end of Newberg’s gym, Russo finally took a deep breath and smiled. 

The tournament had gone off without a hitch, and his Tigers had easily earned the title, placing 19 of their 26 wrestlers on the podium and seeing five stand atop as champions in amassing 490.5 points, nearly doubling runner-up Sprague’s 261.5.

“We host events all the time — not quite like this, but plenty of tournaments,” Russo said. “They are used to working hard and take a lot of pride, just like our community does, in what kinds of events we put on. I’m sure that it was a distraction, but I think we all did a great job of separating the two pieces — competition and tournament management.

“I also think some of our kids were pretty excited about competing at home. Especially our seniors, a group that really missed out on so much this year. I believe it was a great culmination for all kids from all over the state, some of whom have been working for years for that opportunity.”

This weekend’s performance will not count as an official state record — Roseburg’s 366 points in 2017 survives as the Class 6A mark, and Crook County’s 405.5 in 2014 at Class 4A remains safe — but considering all that happened in the nearly 16 months since the Tigers exited Memorial Coliseum with the blue trophy in hand, no one in attendance was putting an asterisk on the feat.

“We have a set of expectations that we try to meet every year,” Russo said. “This group was just that special.”

How special?

“You’ll hear about this class forever,” said junior Charlie Evans, who won his second consecutive title with a 15-4 major decision over Century’s William Musser. “We’re the best. It sounds bad to say that, but I do think it’s really amazing what we did today. To score almost 500 points, that’s really crazy.

“Winning the team title is the big one for us. I love the individual stuff, of course, getting my two-time, but it was really cool watching all the guys pull together, get it done, and take it to the next level.”

Junior Ayden Garver, who moved into position to become a four-time state champion next season, also marveled at how the Tigers overcame all the distractions and the long layoff to repeat.

“A very different environment, obviously. A lot of tighter matches this year,” said Garver, who won a 4-1 decision over Sprague sophomore Josh Camillo at 145. “A lot of people weren’t organizing things, but the best are always coming in, doing things for themselves and getting better.”

The Olympians, who won their ninth consecutive Mountain Valley district title last weekend, matched their best finish at a state tournament with their second-place finish. Roseburg took third, the first time since 2013 the program didn’t finish in the top two, and Mountain View took home a trophy for the third year in a row with a fourth-place finish.

Oregon high school wrestling 6A state tournament: Meet the champions, placewinners, top teams

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