There weren’t many expectations for the Union/Cove boys wrestling team a few years ago following the COVID pandemic.
Like many programs, the return to the sport was slow and the 2026 class only had eight kids their freshman season.
This year, the team has doubled in size and recently took home first in a tournament deemed the 1A state championship at Crane High School. The official state tournament combines 2A and 1A.
Getting the chance to walk away from that tournament against some of the state’s best 1A competition was a huge boost for the Bobcats.
“It’s really fun for them to have a sport they love and see some younger kids come out,” Union/Cove head coach Joe Shaw said. “And be able to go to a tournament like that and kind of have the chatter in the week leading up to it be, ‘We could do this, we could win this tournament.’”
The Bobcats did win the tournament, scoring 135 points to edge out Crane in second with 128.5 and Adrian in third with 122. Elgin, the highest ranked 1A squad in the 2A/1A OSAAtoday coaches poll at No. 6, took fifth with 100 points.
The tournament began 22 years ago in 2004 with an idea from Crane head coach Dave Doman. Since then, the tournament has been moved around the state each year to help the 1A teams on the west and east side of the state make it out when they can.
Most importantly, it gives the 1A wrestlers the feel of a big-time tournament where they can be a little more competitive than their normal competition that comes against nearby schools that could be two or even three classifications higher.
“It is so nice to be able to go to a tournament like that,” Shaw said. “There’s no qualifier for it so the number of kids participating there that someone else might say, ‘Well they don’t really belong at a state tournament,’ that’s what this tournament allows them to do. It allows them to participate and see how it feels to get up on a podium.”
The Bobcats had seven wrestlers get that feeling on the podium, starting with senior Sam Platz winning the 190 pound bracket and freshman Caden Blackburn winning the 132 bracket.
Junior Zane Knapp took third at 126, sophomore Tristen Egeland took second at 138, senior Larry McKaig took second at 144, sophomore Caleb McCants took third at 165 and junior Jonathan Day took fourth at 285.
Platz, a two-time runnerup at the 2A/1A state tournament, has been leading the charge for the Bobcats this season and will be one of the favorites to take an official state title come February.
And he does it all with a smile on his face
“The No. 1 thing about (Platz) is he’s a great human being, he brings everybody up around him,” Shaw said. “My favorite thing to hear from other coaches is, ‘Sam is tough, he beat our kid, but he’s the nicest kid.’ He goes out there and pins somebody and is right there to lift them off the mat and say, ‘You did a great job, that was a great match.’
“He’s got a pretty big goal of being a state champion this year. He’s put in a lot of work, done some training with guys at (Eastern Oregon University).”
Shaw said Platz is looking to wrestle at the next level as well and is continuing to look for the right fit after high school.
But it’s not just Platz bringing the Union/Cove program back to the top in Shaw’s eighth year at the helm.
McKaig and his twin brother Gabe McKaig are two more seniors and make up the trio of captains on the team alongside Platz. Both have been close to making it to state in previous years and hope this final season can be the breakthrough.
Most importantly, they’ve taken on the leadership role and helped create new standards for the younger guys to meet and get better at.
“They kind of decided together, ‘We’re going to do some additional stuff this year that’s optional,’” Shaw said. “They’ve been going on morning runs or doing morning lifting. … They’re getting out there and doing it and that just means the world to me as a coach to see them say, ‘Hey, look how bad I want it.’”
That was never an issue for Blackburn coming into the program as a freshman though, someone who Shaw said has been wrestling since he was 5-years-old.
Having that next possible leader for the crew already excelling is another vital piece as the Bobcats continue to grow.
“(Blackburn) has spent a lot of time on the mat,” Shaw said. “Now you have a young kid who’s likely to rack up quite a bit of success in high school, that helps other kids go, ‘I want to be a part of that too.’”
Union/Cove will be a part of the 2A/1A Special District 3 tournament on Feb. 13-14 at Elgin High School where the Bobcats hope to be sending a few more grapplers to state this year.
The state tournament is set for Feb. 26-28 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
Overall though, Shaw has his crew focusing on the journey more so than any destination, because it’s on that path where the wrestlers will find the true success of getting better.
“One of the things we work really hard for in our room is to talk to kids about process over outcomes,” Shaw said. “To be at the top levels, so many things have to go right in addition to putting the work in and being talented. … As long as you follow the process, you show up, you put the work in, the outcomes will be there.”
Reser’s results
The biggest tournaments of the year in the Reser's Tournament of Champions also took place last weekend at Sherwood High School where the top program from around the state, regardless of classification, hit the mats.
Walking away with the team title was 5A Thurston, who has been beating up opponents of all levels this season.
The Colts finished with 256.5 points, easily clearing 6A Newberg in second with 179.5 and 5A Crater in third with 178. Sweet Home, a 4A school, took fourth with 168 points and 6A West Linn finished fifth with 158.5.
Thurston finished with 11 wrestlers on the podium (top six), including four winners in Lukas Salas-Sanchez at 113, Michael Salas-Sanchez at 120, Tanner Brumble at 126 and Ivan Henderson at 132.
Both Salas-Sanchez brothers are returning state champions, and Brumble won a 21-8 major decision over Crater’s Jeremiah Oliva in the title match a week after pinning Oliva at the Oregon Classic. Oliva is a two-time state champion.
Newberg had eight wrestlers on the podium with four of them finishing as high as second place in Hezekiah Worthington at 113, Kingston Meadors at 138, Gavin Rangel at 144 and Zadek Bowlby at 215.
Crater, Sweet Home and West Linn also had seven placers each with winners that include Cody Sieminski at 106 (Sweet Home), Ryder Sprague at 138 (West Linn), Aidan Godley at 150 (Crater) and Ryland Walters at 190 (Crater).
Other individual winners include Crook County’s Madden Sandoval at 144, La Grande’s Tommy Belding at 157, Burns’ Cannon Kemper at 165, Bend’s Leif Larwin at 175, Harrisburg’s Brody Buzzard at 215 and Burns’ Joe Weil at 285.
austinw@osaa.org
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