CAMAS — A Saturday that featured a lot of little surprises added up to one big prize for the Camas wrestling program.
Camas won a district wrestling championship for the first time since 1994 by picking up significant points in every weight class during the Class 4A District 4 Championships. In the process, the host Papermakers ended a run of seven consecutive titles for rival Union.
“To be honest, it wasn’t until this week that we really realized that we had a chance at this,” said Dylan Ingram, one of two individual district champions for the Papermakers. “Union, Evergreen, Battle Ground, they’re all really tough.”
But none of those teams was as productive throughout the roster. It was the accumulation of points from wrestlers who were junior varsity combatants most of the winter that separated Camas from the competition. Camas scored more than 20 points in 10 of the 14 weight divisions.
The Papermakers finished with 351 points Saturday. Union, with five individual champions, was a strong second with 314 1/2 team points.
“We didn’t talk about beating Union a whole lot,” Camas coach Cory VomBaur said. “I mentioned it maybe one time. I talk about beating the person in front of you — whoever that is; no matter what round your in.”
The top four finishers in each weight division advance to next Saturday’s Region 3 4A tournament, which will also be hosted by Camas.
Sophomore Rylan Thompson was the other individual district champion for the Papermakers, winning at 126 pounds for his second district title.
Ingram, who won the 220-pound title by beating teammate Tristan Groth in the finals, said the belief Camas carried into Saturday was that the Papermakers had improved more than their opponents as the season progressed.
That belief was visible in the way less experienced Papermakers embraced their opportunities.
“People that I didn’t think would win matches came out here and just destroyed kids. It’s been really cool,” Ingram said.
VomBaur said there were “a lot of little upsets” that added up to a team triumph even he called “a big surprise.”
Union’s individual champions included repeat district titles for Ethan Rotondo (106 pounds), Tommy Strassenberg (152 by pin) and Zach Berfanger (195). The Titans’ Taggart Hartwig won the most dramatic of the finals, edging Camas’ Dominic Delgado in a match that needed two overtime minutes to decide. Union’s Shan Sighn won the 182-pound title.
Dallas Goodpaster of Evergreen (285 pounds) won his fourth district title as the Plainsmen finished third in team scoring. Other Evergreen champions were Isaiah Av (132 pounds) and sophomore Dylan Goodpaster (160).
Battle Ground had three champions: Joseph Harnett (120), James Rogers (145) and Taylor Stewart (170).
Mountain View’s Will Taisacan won the 113 pound crown with a pin in 37 seconds.
The district meet won’t officially end until Monday when six matches are wrestled at Heritage to determine some third-fourth and fifth-sixth places. Wrestlers cannot wrestle more than five times in a day, which meant pushing those matches to Monday.
