Winning the Class 3A 132-pound state wrestling title this year was memorable in more ways than one for La Pine senior Dylan Mann.

How could it not? He won his second individual title and helped the Hawks capture their third state title in the program. Also playing a factor, Mann got to close out his high school wrestling career in his home gym in front of a crowd that rarely sees him compete.

“Being in front of friends and kids who don’t get to see me wrestle often — the feeling is just incredible,” said Mann.

After all, he was wrestling in the gym of La Pine High, a gym that due to the nature of high school wrestling — a lot of weekends spent at wrestling tournaments around the state with minimal home competitions — rarely sees home meets let alone with the significance of state meets.

Since 1997, the state wrestling meet has been held at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland in all but four years. From 2005 to 2007, it was held at the the State Fairgrounds Pavilion in Salem, and this past winter state meets where held in six different locations.

For the 2022-2026 time block of high school sports, wrestling state tournaments could again be held in different locations. The Oregon School Activities Association State Championship Committee is mulling it over after hearing testimonies for what the upcoming four years could like like.

“Individual sites worked as well as we thought they would,” Culver wrestling coach JD Alley told the committee at the meeting last Monday in Wilsonville. “Feedback has been good on individual sites as well.”

Central Oregon was at the heart of the state’s championship weekend in late February. Four of the six different tournaments were held locally. Ridgeview held the Class 5A meet in Redmond, La Pine hosted the 3A meet and Culver held both the girls and the 2A/1A meet. The 6A (Sandy High) and 4A (Cascade High) meets were held on the west side of the mountains.

Having the meets separate, each classification got to be the main event in a more intimate setting than competing in a venue the size of Memorial Coliseum.

At La Pine during the championship bouts, each wrestler came running out of tunnels and onto the mat where they would be wrestling under a single light. Had it been held at the Coliseum, all of the title matches for each classification would be going at the same time.

Plus, competing in small gyms allowed for viewers to be closer to the action, with families of wrestlers competing in La Pine getting mat-side seats.

“We set up everything just the way we wanted,” said Mann. “With the run-outs, the light show. It was so unique. You aren’t up 20 feet in the bleachers, it feels more like a dual meet.”

Hosting the state tournaments, there was a sense of pride for the events that the programs were able to put on with relatively short notice.

“I knew when we were asked way back by the OSAA if we could host, we said yes because we have the people to do it,” said La Pine wrestling coach and athletic director Aaron Flack at the conclusion of the state tournament. “To win a state title in our own gym, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to say that again.”

The committee presented a plan to once again have the state championships in different venues, however with two separate locations — one for 6A and 5A, and another for 4A, 3A, 2A/1A. The girls meet would also split its state tournament at the same location as the related classifications — instead of six.

The State Championship Committee is narrowing what the state championship picture will look like across all high school sports for the next four years. The committee will give its recommendation to the OSAA’s executive board on Monday, April 18.

“Being in front of friends and kids who don’t get to see me wrestle often — the feeling is just incredible.”

— Dylan Mann, La Pine wrestler

“(For the state tournament meet), we set up everything just the way we wanted. With the run-outs, the light show. It was so unique. You aren’t up 20 feet in the bleachers, it feels more like a dual meet.”

— Dylan Mann