PRAIRIE HIGH SCHOOL’S Jose Avila-Leal (top) locked into a battle with Nishiyama Shingo of the Japanese National team at a wrestling exhibition event held Jan. 13 at Prairie High School.
RIDGEFIELD SOPHOMORE Trevor Newburn (right) faces off with Japanese national team member Takahashi Kazuki (left) in an event held Jan. 13 at Prairie High School.
HOCKINSON WRESTLER Cameron Loos (right) engaged Nagai Motoki of the Japanese national team in a match that remained tied until the final 30 seconds.
BRUSH PRAIRIE – A group of area wrestlers had the opportunity to test their skills against a team of high school-age wrestlers from a Japanese national team on Jan. 13 at Prairie High School.
The team from Japan are touring the western part of the United States. The visiting wrestlers have the opportunity to stay with host wrestling families during their stay in each city they visit and compete against high school wrestlers. A team from Japan visited the area last year as well and a similar event was held at Battle Ground High School.
The Japanese national team included Yamamoto Taiki, who was a world champion in Greco Roman as a cadet. The team also included Japanese Greco Roman national champion Seno Haruki.
At this year’s event, no Clark County wrestlers were able to defeat their Japanese opponents. The closest match of the night was at 110 pounds. Ridgefield’s Trevor Newburn faced Takahashi Kasuki, who won by a 4-1 decision. All of the night’s other matches finished with a pin or a wider decision.
Hockinson’s Cameron Loos had a spirited battle with Nagai Motoki in the 211-pound match. Loos and Motoki were tied 5-5 well into the third round before Motoki took Loos down and scored a near fall to seal the victory.
Loos took Motoki down in the second round with a move referred to as a “blast double.’’ Loos nearly completed another take down as time ran out in the second round. Motoki finished eighth in the world in Greco Roman and was part of the Japanese national team that finished fifth in the world.
AT A GLANCE
Clark County Wrestling Tournament
Due to early production deadlines for the Jan. 21 edition of The Reflector Newspaper, results of the annual Clark County Wrestling Tournament were not available at press time.
Athletes from Clark County-area high schools were scheduled to compete at the annual event Jan. 16-17 at Prairie High School.
Please check the Jan. 28 edition of The Reflector for a follow-up report of the Clark County Wrestling Tournament complete with photos from the event.
