Liz Henderson was going to lose.
The Mazama junior, making her first appearance at the OSAA championships in just her second season of wrestling, trailed Grant Union senior and three-time title winner Mallory Lusco 3-0 with less than 10 seconds remaining in the 4A/3A/2A/1A girls 235-pound final at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
Vikings head coach Matt Penrod, who did not travel with the program due to his wife recently giving birth, watched on his computer as the clock ticked down.
“[I was] already kind of thinking of how I’m going to console her and tell her she did great and had a great year,” Penrod said. “And as I’m thinking that, and as I’m talking to my wife, she took [Lusco] down, put her on her back and scored five points in three seconds and won.”
The last-gasp stunner made Henderson the third wrestler in Mazama history and first member of the Vikings girls team to win an OSAA championship (Mazama began fielding a girls wrestling team for OSAA competition in the 2023-24 season). Mazama hadn’t had an individual state champion since Josh Hammers won back-to-back 4A 182-pound titles in 2016 and 2017. Trevor Anderson’s 4A 125-pound championship in 2011 is the program’s only other individual title.
Henderson, the No. 4 seed in the 235-pound bracket, won her first three matches by fall. She pinned Scappoose junior Ciela Garcia at the 3:20 mark in the opening round and Irrigon sophomore Cinthia Madrigal (who had received an opening-round bye) 3:03 into their quarterfinal bout before pinning North Valley senior Breanna Meek (the No. 1 seed) in 1:33 in the semifinals.
Henderson had faced Meek four times in her career prior to the state championships, losing all four matchups. However, Penrod said the most recent meeting–a 4-3 decision loss at the 4A/3A/2A/1A Special District 2 championships–gave Henderson confidence.
“She knew she could beat her,” Penrod said.
While Henderson’s title was the headline event for Mazama, the Vikings had two other wrestlers earn top-four finishes. Senior Jack Kaefring, the No. 3 seed in the 4A boys 190-pound bracket, made it to the championship match before losing a 5-1 decision to Philomath junior Lake Mulberry, the No. 1 seed.
“He just came up a little bit short,” Penrod said. “It was really 1-1, and then he got a stalling point and he had to kind of go after it, and that’s how the margin ended up being 5-1.”
Kaefring pinned St. Helens junior Joseph Howard in 25 seconds, won a 7-2 decision over Cascade senior Solomon Sandoval (the No. 5 seed) and won an 11-2 major decision over Scappoose senior Cayden Baker (the No. 2 seed) to reach the final. It was his third appearance at the OSAA championships.
“Jack has been kind of in the shadows,” Penrod said. “The last two years, we had state placers Armando Galindo and Tyson Van Gastel at heavyweight and at 190 pounds ahead of Jack…and so, Jack has always been a pretty good wrestler but didn’t necessarily get the kudos.
“This year was kind of his year to get to be the one in the spotlight, and he took it and ran with it.”
Freshman Shyla Sells finished fourth in the 4A/3A/2A/1A girls 135-pound bracket after entering as the No. 4 seed. She won by fall over St. Helens’ Nova Woolworth–the only other freshman in the 135-pound weight class to qualify for the state championships–1:34 into their opening round match before losing by fall to Riverside (Boardman) senior Katelyn Wiseman 2:49 into their quarterfinal match.
In the consolation bracket, she beat Sweet Home sophomore Madi Looney by technical fall (15-0) at the 3-minute mark and won a 4-0 decision over St. Helens senior Kallee Kester (the No. 2 seed) before Siuslaw/Mapleton junior Danin Lacouture pinned her 1:04 into the third-place match.
“Everybody’s really proud of her,” Penrod said. “It’s a really big accomplishment to place as a freshman.”
Despite the successes of Henderson, Kaefring and Sells, Penrod said he felt the season was “a down year” for the program, especially on the boys side. Mazama finished second as a team at the 4A Special District 3 championships, with Marshfield taking the title. The Vikings boys had won five of the previous six district championships.
“Having these individual accomplishments is always cool, especially in a year where you’re not winning team titles, but I think the young guys want to get back on top of the team standings as well,” Penrod said.
On the girls side, Penrod said he believes the team will be “in the hunt for a state trophy” next season. He attributes the Mazama girls’ rapid rise to the efforts of assistant coach Victoria Crowder, who functions as the girls team’s de facto head coach (Penrod is the program head but goes with the boys when the teams’ schedules diverge).
“She’s done a lot with this group of kids, just getting them ready and traveling with them…I think she deserves a lot of the credit for where the girls are right now,” Penrod said.
Perhaps the most positive sign for Mazama’s future is the fact that only four of its program-record 18 state qualifiers (across both teams) were seniors.
“Most of those kids are coming back,” Penrod said. “And I think a lot of these kids are hungry to get better for next year.”
