Camas wrestling family springs into action

With a combination of youth and experience, the Camas High School wrestling program is on the rise in the 4A Greater St. Helens League.

Head coach Cory VomBaur said seniors Dominic Delgado, Max Grimes and Triston Groth have been in the room since he walked in as an assistant three years ago. Joining them in the battle to get better every day are juniors Tanner Howington and Dylan Ingram, and sophomores Sam Malychewski, Michael Strickland, Jonathan Taylor and Rylan Thompson.

“I am blessed to have these athletes in the room who have commitment, desire and proven toughness,” VomBaur said. “I bring a lot intensity with my coaching, and I expect the athletes to bring the intensity to match it.

“It’s a lot of fun to see these kids rise to the challenge and walk out of this place better than they were the day before,” he added. “Wrestling is such a grind. You have to come in here every single day and push yourself to get better. When you push through those walls and break down those walls, you get better.”

Thompson spearheads the young Papermakers. As a freshman, he finished in sixth place at the state tournament after winning a district title and taking third at region.

Since then, Thompson’s wrestling “routine” has doubled. After grappling with his teammates for two hours after school, he goes to the Askeo International Mat Club for two more hours of wrestling. He spends another hour lifting weights.

“I’m going to push myself even harder this year because I want to win state,” Thompson said. “There’s a thousand ways you can’t. Just find that one way you can. I got to outwork anybody in front of me.”

Malychewski captured the team’s first championship medal Saturday, in the Tyrone Woods Invitational at Oregon City High School. He pinned all five of his opponents to finish in first place at 182 pounds.

“I played good defense and stayed in good position,” Malychewski said. “I let them make the mistakes and capitalized on them. I stayed humble about it, too.”

Camas rose to second place against 16 other schools. Delgado, Groth, Howington, Ingram, Taylor, Thompson, Quinton Adams, Tanner Craig, Dustin Hubbard, Jack Latimer and Kyle Moore earned three or four victories for the team.

Malychewski hopes this becomes a springboard for the Papermakers and not a plateau. He said hard work in the practice room reflects on the wrestling mat, while slacking off can plague the entire team.

“There’s no holding back. Guys are giving it their all, and they’re not afraid about getting tired in practice,” Malychewski said. “When matches go into overtime, you see the guys are getting tired. I hope in those times, you see our guys pushing harder and earning those wins.”

Thompson agrees. The time for friendships is off the wrestling mat.

“If you go as hard as you can with them and you break them, you’re doing them a favor because it’s making them better.” Thompson said. “Same thing, if they break you.”

Sydney Burres, Lacy Dunlop, Delany Dunn, Samantha Flannelly, Faith Hartman and Bailee Thompson cemented the foundation for a girls wrestling team at CHS.

“You can’t get a girls team started without the group we had last year,” VomBaur said. “Those girls stuck with the program every single day to become part of the Camas wrestling family.”

New coach Zane Freschette is excited to lead the Camas girls into the future. He coached at Heritage High School the past five years.

“This is going to be a new adventure,” Freschette said. “It’s nice to start on a foundation level and see what we can build it into. Hopefully, the coaches and athletes all go through that learning process together and do what we can to make this program successful.”