Ten wrestlers are competing in the OSAA 4A State Wrestling Tournament after Marshfield finished second in the Special District 3 Regional Wrestling Tournament last weekend.
                It was one of four OSAA 4A regional wrestling tournaments and was hosted by Henley High School.

                The Pirate wrestling team has had success at many wrestling tournaments this season, but none have mattered as much as this one.

                Sophomore AJ Lira said the tournament went smooth for him. His longest pin took approximately a minute and thirty seconds.

                “I feel like a bunch of us did good and did what we were supposed to do,” Lira said. “I also think we lost concentration a couple of times and I feel like we could have wrestled better.”

                Marshfield had five regional champions. Cole Smith (106), Ryder McKee (120), Gary Jantzer (170), Travis Wittlake Jr. (160) and Lira (126) all placed first.

                Other wrestlers who qualified for state include second-place finishers Joey Vigue (195) and Joe Paramo (113), third-place finishers Will Jantzer (132) and Cade Hite (138), and fourth-place finisher Mason Jussila (285).

                The team will travel to Portland for the state competition today. Lira said he is looking forward to competing for a state title because he likes wrestling and everything that comes with it.

“Some of the best parts of tournaments isn’t even the wrestling, it’s the environment of hanging out with your buddies,” Lira said. “That was fun for me.”

Marshfield placed third at state last year and according to Hite, the team hopes to get an even better title this year. Hite is making a run for an individual state championship and he has the same hopes for the team title.

“We’re going to win it,” Hite said.