Rockwel, Hansen lead Pirates on Day 1

Published 11:44 am Friday, February 24, 2012

The freshman phenom just continues to win.

Riverside rookie Hans Rockwell, the No. 1 seed at 106 pounds in the Class 3A state wrestling tournament, kept his perfect record in tact with a quarterfinal win Friday in Portland.

Rockwell extended his winning streak to 39 bouts with a pin of Lakeviews Mack Crandall in the second round. He will face league opponent Tyler Flint of Vale in the semifinals, which begin at 9:45 a.m. today.

Rockwell had a little trouble early with Crandall the Honker was able to take Rockwell down to start the bout but Rockwell tied it with a takedown late in the first period.

Rockwell controlled the second period from the start to when he decided he needed to stop, at the 0:45 mark of the frame when he scored the fall.

Other semifinalists for the Pirates include Trevor Graff at 145 pounds and Briton Hansen at 182 pounds.

While Hansen was expected to make it to this point of the tournament with his No. 1 seed, the unseeded Graff scored a pair of pins to earn the right to face No. 1 seed Jay Lysne of Lakeview this morning for a shot at the title.

Graff pinned Coltons Calvin Hayes in 3:47 and put Santiam Christians Jacob Howard on his back in 1:25.

Hansen received a first-round bye then earned a hard-fought 12-6 decision against Harrisburgs Loren Traw. Hansen will face Rogue Rivers Garrett Dees in this mornings semifinals.

In Class 4A, Mac-His Ryan Bullock and Francisco Saldana advanced to the semifinals without much issue.

Bullock, at 152 pounds, ripped through his first two opponents and has spent just 1:15 on the mat thus far. He pinned Tillamooks Ronald Allen in 43 seconds to start his tourney, then abused Mazamas Aaron Boatright with a 32-second fall.

Bullock is the No. 2 seed at the weight and will face

Saldana dispatched Phoenixs Ismael Rubio in the first round by fall and picked up a 3-1 victory in the quarterfinals against Philomath;s Braydon Calder.

Saldana, the No. 1 seed in the bracket, will face Mazama freshman Chase Anderson in the semifinals.

Heppner put three of its four qualified wrestlers into the 2A/1A semifinals with wins Friday.

No. 3 seed Jared Lemmon pinned Neah-Kah-Nies Logan Romig in 1:06 in the 120-pound quarterfinals. He will battle Culver freshman Tucker Davis in the semifinals. Davis is the No. 2 seed in the bracket.

Triston Maben took care of Culvers Juan Diaz in the 138-pound quarterfinals with a 10-2 major decision and will face unseeded Josh Cardwell of Lowell in the semifinals.

Although unseeded, Cardwell took out No. 2 seed Pat Morgan of Knappa, 6-3, and has the right pedigree to win a title. His brother, Josh, won four state titles with the latest coming last season. His father, Jeff, also won four title in the late 70s.

At 182 pounds, No. 3 seed Garrett Gibbs didnt have much trouble in the quarterfinals with a pin of Bonanzas Matt VanDusen. Gibbs will face No. 2 Jake Stevens of Vernonia in the semifinals.

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