Photos by DARBIE KEMPER

The Burns High School wrestling team finished second at state.

As if it was deja vu all over again, the Burns Hilander wrestling team finished in second place behind the state champion La Pine Hawks at the 2023 OSAA/OnPoint 3A State Championships held at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland on Friday, Feb. 24.

A snowstorm, which started Wednesday night and continued into Thursday, shut down most of the city and forced all sports in the Portland metro area to be rescheduled. As a result, the 1A-4A state championships jammed their two-day event into Friday.

La Pine finished with 195 points, while Burns had 175.5 points. Last year’s third-place winner, Harrisburg, took third again this year with 156 points. Banks finished with 142.5 points, and Siuslaw had 83 points to round out the top five teams.

Canon Winn placed first in the 120-pound weight class by taking down Mason Webb of La Pine.

Kale Cornell, last year’s winner, once again took home the gold in the 126-pound weight class by defeating Curtis Talmadge of Harrisburg.

Brothers, Hunter and Easton Kemper, took first place for the second year in a row. Hunter took down Ben Cooper of Sisters in the 152-pound weight class for the title. Wrestling at 170, Easton placed first when he defeated Cache Montgomery of La Pine. Easton finished his season at a perfect 45-0.

Results for the 12 Hilander wrestlers who competed at state are as follows:
106 pounds — Kempton Richardson received a bye; won by fall; won by decision; won by major decision; lost by fall; won by fall.
113 pounds — Thomas Winn won by fall; won by fall; won by fall; lost by fall.
113 pounds — Ryan Glascock received a bye; lost by fall; lost by decision.
120 pounds — Canon Winn won by fall; won by fall; won by fall; won by major decision.
120 pounds — Preston Hill won by fall; won by decision; lost by decision; lost by major decision; won by fall.
126 pounds — Kale Cornell won by fall; won by fall; won by fall; won by fall.
132 pounds — Hazen Johnson lost by decision; received a bye; lost by fall.
145 pounds — Carter Lardy won by fall; won by decision; lost by decision; lost by decision; won by fall.
145 pounds — Andrew Barnes lost by fall; received a bye; lost by decision.
152 pounds — Hunter Kemper won by decision; won by fall; won by fall; won by technical fall.
170 pounds — Easton Kemper won by fall; won by fall; won by fall; won by major decision.
170 pounds — Joe Weil received a bye; lost by fall; won by decision; lost by major decision.