Also: Putnam meets its match in Liberty

The Rex Putnam Kingsmen met their match in a veteran wrestling team from Liberty in a Jan. 31 Northwest Conference dual meet at Putnam, yielding 57-21.

Liberty’s lineup featured nine wrestlers who had placed in the top six at last year’s NWOC District Tournament, including five finalists.

Liberty district finalists Kevin Rivas (120) and Juan Ocampo (285) both won by fall. Falcon district finalist Michael Feltman (138) accepted a forfeit and Liberty district finalist Hunter Dehlin (160) won by technical fall.

Liberty senior Nathan Machado (220), who was last year’s district runner-up at 220, won by 13-5 major decision over Putnam up-and-coming sophomore Juan Hernandez.

Putnam won four of the 11 matches contested on the mat. Kingsmen freshman Brice McDonald (113) pinned Liberty sophomore Rodrigo Garcia; Putnam senior Eligh Miller-Polivka (126) pinned Liberty’s Chris Schramm; and Putnam senior Trevor Schneider (195) won by fall over Liberty sophomore Joseph Alaguna.

Putnam also had a winner at 145, where senior Joseph Larimer dispatched with Liberty senior Drew Kyniston, 7-3.

With the win, Liberty improved to 5-1 in NWOC dual meets, while Putnam slipped to 1-5.

The NWOC concludes its dual season this week. Putnam meets Parkrose (1-5) on the road tonight, while Liberty entertains Sherwood (5-1) on Thursday.

Sandy (6-0) hosts the NWOC District Tournament Feb. 15-16.

Putnam had four wrestlers place at last weekend’s 14-team Bill Geister Invitational, hosted by Clackamas.

Joseph Larimer (145) won four of five matches and earned third place. Trevor Schneider (195) placed fourth; Brice McDonald and Jeff D’Auvergne (285) both placed sixth.

The Kingsmen finished 11th in the team scoring, ahead of Lakeridge, Nestucca and Lincoln, and just four points back of tenth-place Woodburn.