Hard work = state titles for Kai Carson, Allison Palluck: Oregon wrestling 126/115 small-school roundup
By René Ferrán | Photos by Leon Neuschwander
The 126-pound division at the Class 4A wrestling state championships looked loaded on paper.
A couple of runners-up from last year’s 5A state meet — Scappoose senior Anthony Comer and Crook County sophomore Landon Lavey — lurked in the bottom half of the draw.
The top half included Henley junior Kyle Nichols, a district champion who missed placing at state by one round last year.
Then there was La Grande junior Kai Carson, who joined older brother Braden as a state champion last season, winning the 120 bracket to help the Tigers win the team title.
Braden, who won his third title last year, is now at Eastern Oregon University. Kai moved one step closer to matching his older brother Friday night with a 6-2 decision over Comer in Friday’s final at Portland’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
“I just have a lot of successful people surrounding me,” Kai said. “With success comes success.”
Carson spent much of his unexpected snow day Thursday doing workouts with his teammates in their hotel rooms and mentally preparing for a one-day rather than two-day tournament.
“Instead of pacing yourself, and you’re going to wrestle one match with a five-hour wait, then wrestle another match, you’re going to knock them out in one day,” he said. “So, this was kind of that final grind.”
Comer overcame a shoulder injury that sidelined him for much of the season to reach the final, beating Lavey 3-0 in the semifinals. He hung with Carson for much of the match, taking him down with 49 seconds left in the second period to tie the score at 2-2.
Carson escaped 17 seconds later to regain the lead, and after Comer allowed him to escape to open the third, chasing a tying takedown, instead it was Carson who got the clinching takedown with 44 seconds left.
4A/3A/2A/1A Girls: Cottage Grove sophomore Allison Palluck capped an undefeated season by scoring a reversal with 49 seconds left to pull out a 6-4 decision over top seed Courtney Hall of Scappoose in the 115-pound final.
“Seeing how hard I’ve worked to get here, how hard my parents have worked, my coaches have worked, just to get me from almost nothing as a freshman to winning state,” said Palluck, who finished the season 26-0.
“I was super nervous coming in Wednesday night, and seeing how Thursday went, I got to just relax in a hotel room with my friends and just enjoy being at state without the pressure of state. Honestly, it helped.”
3A: Burns sophomore Kale Cornell is halfway to becoming a four-time state champion after pinning Curtis Talmadge of Harrisburg 29 seconds into the second round. Talmadge, a senior, also reached the 126 final last winter.
2A/1A: Grant Union/Prairie City freshman Taylor Parsons knocked off top seed Talen Shaffer of Illinois Valley in the quarterfinals, then went on to beat Nestucca’s Zakai Chatelain 5-1 in a final that matched two unseeded wrestlers.
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