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Cody Randall pins down third state title

Cody Randall rewrites North Marion history books with third straight state championship

• By: Alex Tam 
• Published: 3/2/2010 12:54:36 PM

Photo By: Garrett RudolphCody Randall
North Marion senior Cody Randall grapples with Stayton’s Tyler Blythe during the 145-pound championship match at the Class 4A state wrestling tournament on Saturday. Randall defeated Blythe, 4-1, to earn his third consecutive state title.

PORTLAND — Cody Randall has been through a lot over the last three years to get to where he’s at today.
 
Working out six hours a day, lifting weights in the morning, going to high school and club practice every day after school have become his life.
 
But the North Marion High School senior has reaped the rewards, winning his third straight state championship with a 4-1 decision over Stayton junior Tyler Blythe at 145 pounds Saturday at the OSAA Class 4A state wrestling championships at the Memorial Coliseum.
 
“It’s been hard,” Randall said. “It’s just constantly having to live on the mat (but) it’s really been worth it. All the work paid off. I mean, when you’re doing it, you might feel bad, but once it’s all over, it’s all worth it.”
 
Randall defeated Blythe in a rematch of the Capital Conference district finals, which Randall won 4-0. At the district tournament, Randall predicted he would have to face Blythe again in the state finals.
 
And the match went similar to their district final as Randall scored a takedown with 1 minute, 34 seconds in the first round for a 2-0 lead. He earned a reversal in the second round with 1:35 to go for a 4-0 lead, but was called for stalling in the third that gave Blythe a point.
 
“It’s pretty good to make the same thing happen,” Randall said. “I got the first takedown, chose down and got a reversal and rode him for pretty much the rest of the time. But this time, they got me for two stall calls and I don’t know why. I was working on turning him the whole time but I guess that’s the way the refs see it.”
 
Randall reached the finals after beating McLoughlin senior Wyatt Law, who was the No. 4 seed, by fall in 2:47 in the semifinals.
 
Randall took down Baker senior Drew Stanley by fall in 1:29 in the quarterfinals.
 
Earlier in the tournament, he beat Philomath sophomore Braydon Calder by tech fall in 4:52 in the first round, and easily beat South Umpqua freshman James Simmons by fall in 1:42 in a pigtail match.
 
Randall hopes his success at the state wrestling tournament might attract interest from collegiate programs.
 
“It’s great. Now I just hope that I can keep going on,” he said. “I want to wrestle in college. I haven’t gotten any offers yet, but hopefully something will open up now.”

Coach Mike Robinson said Randall became the foundation for what the program has become today after the team took home a third-place state trophy.
 
“His success started to build the group of guys that we have right now,” Robinson said.
 
Randall is the school’s first multiple-time state champion, and is the 84th wrestler in Oregon high school history to finish their careers with three state titles. During the season, Randall went 43-0 en route to  winning his state title.
 
He will arguably go down as the best wrestler in school history at North Marion right now after winning the 135-pound state title last season, and the 125-pound state title as a sophomore.
 
That is, until his brother Lucas takes over that title if he becomes a four-time state champion after he won his first as a freshman at 125.
 
“That feels really great to set a new record and set a record for something,” Randall said.
 
“Hopefully my little brother comes and breaks it and wins it four times. I want him to break it.”

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