Second place is often the most painful position to finish, being one or two steps away from finishing the job and winning it all.
Thurston boys wrestling has come to know all about silver, taking second place the last three seasons at the state tournament.
In 2026, the No. 1 ranked Colts are aiming to finish on top this time around, and winning the Oregon Classic duals tournament out in Redmond is a good step toward accomplishing that.
Thurston dominated 5A Pool D on Friday, Jan. 16, with wins of 54-18 over Hillsboro, 75-3 over Caldera and 56-20 over Canby.
For championship Saturday on Jan. 17, the Colts took out Mountain View 61-12 in the quarterfinals and Crook County 57-10 in the semifinals to set up a title dual with defending state champion and Oregon Classic champion Crater.
The final dual was close as expected, but Thurston came away with the 36-32 win and the Oregon Classic title.
“Our kids have believed all year we could beat them,” Thurston head coach Mike Simons said. “I know we have a solid team, a hungry team. We just keep grinding and working hard and I think beating Crater even motivates our kids more. They know it’s doable. They’re loaded, we’re loaded but we gotta show up and perform, and our kids did.”
Helping power the Colts once again this season is the sophomore and junior brother duo of Lukas and Michael Salas-Sanchez.
Lukas Salas-Sanchez went 4-0 at the Oregon Classic, including a tech fall victory in the final against Crater, and Michael Salas-Sanchez went 6-0, who also had a tech fall in the final over the Comets.
After both finished at the top last season, there’s no question the two have been working hard still to improve and be right back there inside Veterans Memorial Coliseum this year.
“They’re probably two of the most technical kids I’ve ever coached, and I've been around college or high school wrestling for 30ish years,” Simons said. “They just love wrestling. ‘Hey coach, have you seen this move? Or what if we do this?’ They just love it, they love to compete, they’re tough kids and they’re just fun to have on the team. Everybody sees how much time they put in and if you wanna be the best, you gotta train like they do and it’s kind of contagious.”
Simons was proven right about how contagious the brothers’ success can be as a couple youngsters have stepped up on the mat this year for the Colts.
Sophomore Samuel Greenstreet is currently 30-1 after going 6-0 in his matches at the Oregon Classic.
Another sophomore in Tanner Brumble is 22-2 on the year and went 5-0 in Redmond, including a fall at 2 minutes, 50 seconds over Crater’s Jeremiah Oliva in the final. Oliva is a two-time state champion.
Sophomore Ivan Henderson is 30-3 and went 5-1 at the Oregon Classic, and freshman Ethan Regas is 27-7 to add some more firepower to the Colts.
“We have a bunch of kids with good records,” Simons said. “We haven’t backed down, we’ve wrestled everybody in the state except for West Linn, who we’ll see at home. … We’ve wrestled all the good teams.”
Simons isn’t wrong either as his Colts have two dual wins over two-time defending 6A state champion Newberg this season, the first coming Dec. 29 by a score of 44-18 to win the Northwest Duals, then 52-14 in the final of the Earl Gillis Invitational on Jan. 9.
Of course, those tournament wins also required winning previous matches just to get to the finals, giving the Colts some strong tests throughout the year.
“Our kids have been laying the hammer down on a lot of teams,” Simons said. “Not that they’re bad teams by any means, but our kids tend to get on a roll and just feed off of each other. It’s been pretty cool and a lot of fun to be able to coach kids like this.”
The girls side of the wrestling room is having a solid season as well trying to defend its back-to-back state titles from the past couple of seasons.
The Colts took third at the Oregon Classic behind Allison Cummings who went 8-0 at the event and also won the Lady Dragon invite the previous week at 170 pounds.
Joining her is Kassidy Hadden, who’s back this year after recovering from a torn ACL, and she went 7-1 out in Redmond.
The girls have shown the blueprint to winning a state title, something they hope to pull off again in 2026 in a crowded field of contenders.
The boys hope they can follow it as well in one of the most loaded 5A fields the state has seen for boys wrestling.
It certainly won’t be easy, but Simons has seen the horses in the room show what it takes to get to the pinnacle.
“Some years you’re second guessing yourself, like, ‘What do we need to do different?’” Simons said. “This is a year where I look at our group and it’s just a special group. We could win state, we could end up second, I have no idea. But I can tell you our kids, boys and girls, will leave it on the mat.”
Newberg keeps rolling
As for the No. 1 squad in 6A and two-time defending champions in Newberg, the Tigers have looked strong in the 2025-2026 season as expected.
Returning for the Tigers this year is senior Hezekiah Worthington and junior Sawyer Keinonen after they both won their first state title last season.
Also back in the fold is senior Gavin Rangel, a state champion from 2024 who missed the 2025 tournament.
Having those three lead the room is vital as head coach Neil Russo tries to hit the reset button each year with his squad and let them know there’s nothing to defend, but rather they have to go prove it again.
“We talk about that daily … We’re not defending anything, it’s a new year and individually you’re in a different weight class so there are different elements,” Russo said. “(Worthington and Keinonen) are leaders in our program and have been where we’re trying to take a lot of other kids. They’re doing all the right things and trying to show the way a little bit.”
Senior Tylor Johnson is one of those finding his way in Russo’s eyes with a 23-8 record this season after missing last year due to a knee injury sustained from football.
Johnson went 6-0 at the Oregon Classic and has filled a big need for the Tigers in the 160 and 175 areas for the lineup.
Sophomore Carter Clock has also been a youngster trying to claim his spot among the always deep Tigers roster.
Mix in sophomore Jacob Jump, a finalist last year who took second at 106, and senior Kingston Meadors, who reached the semifinals last year at 126, and the Tigers look vicious once again.
“Getting (Johnson) back this year has been significant in our lineup,” Russo said. “Just up and down the lineup, our kids have improved all year long. Some of them have those (state title) expectations, (Johnson) being one of them.”
Even if there are some new grapplers getting into the mix, the target is still squarely planted on the backs of the Tigers.
Not only are they back-to-back defending state champions, but they’ve won four of the last five official state titles and won the unofficial crown in 2021.
Russo and his wrestlers know they’re getting everyone’s best any time they step on the mat.
“We don’t want it any other way, but our focus is on ourselves and just trying to address some things we need to do, whether it’s technically or physically or whatever it might be,” Russo said. “Whatever we’re doing that day is the most important thing.”
Newberg is set to compete in the annual Reser’s Tournament of Champions on Jan. 23-24 at Sherwood High School where the Tigers will compete with the best Oregon has to offer.
From there, it’s getting ready for district and state where they will go for state title No. 16. Their 15 team state titles are already the most in state history.
There’s plenty of firepower still in these claws, and the rest of 6A is going to have to find a way to survive.
“Things have been good, we’re battling injuries like everyone else,” Russo said. “We still haven’t put our best lineup on the mat. We’re gonna get a couple guys back here in the next couple of weeks, so we’re excited about that.
“But the kids that are wrestling, they’re wrestling hard and getting better every time out. As a coach that’s really about all you could hope for.”
austinw@osaa.org
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