The Banks Wrestling team took home the 4th place team trophy and two state titles from the 3A state tournament Feb. 23.
Their high placement comes as the result of many banks wrestlers performing well at the state tournament including the two State Champions: Daevon Vereen and Mishael Mauck. Both of the champs had lost in the finals the year prior.
Mauck is a junior at BHS and won his state title in the 220 lb weight class. Mauck went into the state tournament with a case of the flu and still managed to come out as the state champion.
“The last match, that one was a grind,” Mauck said. “That was the toughest match by far.”
Vereen is a senior at Banks High School and wrestling team captain. He won his title in the 182 lb weight class, and managed to finish every match before time ran out. That means that in each match he either pinned his opponent or led his opponent by 15 points.
“I had a lot of confidence going into it, just because the guy was laying down and not taking it seriously,” Vereen said. “This is my senior year and I gotta get it all, that’s what I’ve been working toward all year.”
Jackson Lyda, a senior, served as the other team captain this season. Lyda also went to the state tournament and competed in the 145 weight class, but was eliminated in the second round of matches.
“A big part of our team this year were the young guys, the freshmen,” Lyda said. “They’re gonna have a great season next year, and there’s more trophies to come.”
While he may not have made it into the final matches, Lyda served an important leadership role along with his co-captain Mauck. The two captains take on a lot of responsibility in leading their team.
They lead exercises and drills, hold their teammates accountable and push each other to do their best every day.
Banks wrestlers earning state championships is not necessarily new — the yellow plaques spread over the walls of the Banks High School Wrestling building prove that. But, the team earning 4th overall is certainly new, and it’s been a long time coming.
When Dan Herb first became head coach of the Banks wrestling team he set out with a goal, to make Banks one of the top 10 teams in the state for in its division. After a few years the wrestling program had established itself and set out toward a new goal — becoming a top four team.
This season, the team won its first top four trophy since 2004 — the first step toward Herb’s goal.
“There were just a lot of times we thought we were a top four team, and it just didn’t pan out,” Herb said. But Herb and his team aren’t looking for just one trophy, his goal is for the team to stay in the top four.
My name is Jake Moore. I was born and raised here in Banks, Oregon, and have recently returned home after completing my Bachelor of Arts in Journalism at the University of Oregon. During my time in Eugene I wrote for the student run paper the Daily Emerald as a senior news reporter and served as a reporting intern at Eugene Weekly. I look forward to working with community members and reporting on local news.
Contact me at [email protected].
