Adna Star Lucas Ashley Signs With Southern Oregon University Men’s Wrestling

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Pirates: Ashley Became the First Two-Time State Wrestling Champion in Adna History After Capturing the 182-Pound Title in February

ADNA — Adna wrestling stalwart Lucas Ashley is taking his grappling skills to Ashland, Oregon after signing with Southern Oregon University men’s wrestling program.

Ashley put himself on the map after becoming the first two-time state wrestling champion in Adna history at Mat Classic XXXII at the Tacoma Dome in February. He won the 152-pound division as a junior in 2019 and the 182-pound bracket his senior year. He was sixth at state as a freshman at 126 pounds and fourth as a sophomore at 145 pounds.

Now he gets to test himself at the next level in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

“It’s been a dream of mine since I was young,” Ashley said. “I’m happy to know I’m able to do something most people don’t, which is play a sport in college. I never thought I’d get this far.”

Ashley garnered interest from a few universities, including Arizona Christian University, where former teammate Ashton Dowell, a 2019 Adna graduate, signed. But another of Ashley’s wrestling friends from Olympia, Layne Pannkuk, was competing for Southern Oregon University so Ashley set up a campus visit and met with the coaches.

“When I went down there I really liked it, so that’s why I chose them,” Ashley said.

Arizona Christian didn’t have any scholarships available this upcoming season, so the team is working on getting Ashley academic scholarships until next year where it will consider him for a full athletic scholarship.

The road to Ashley’s first state title at Adna was unconventional. His first match at 152 pounds didn’t come until the subregional tournament. He had wrestled at 160 the entire year, but one of his teammates was also wrestling at 160 so Ashley decided to move down a weight class to give his teammate and the team a better shot at state. He ended up winning subregionals and regionals at 152 before defeating Lake Roosevelt’s defending state champion Tony Nichols 8-1 in the state final. He finished the season with 40-plus wins and 11 losses.

“Words couldn’t describe how happy it made me and all the hard work I’ve put in,” Ashley said.

Ashley added 30 pounds in the offseason, something he hadn’t originally planned on, due to getting stronger in his lower body while working out. The muscle and weight piled on and he had to adjust.

“I just got stronger,” Ashley said.



He entered his senior season at 182 pounds and knew there was a bull’s-eye squarely on his back. One might think Ashley would train harder to compensate for that, but he changed nothing in his work regimen. He had already been training the year before at an extremely high level because of his desire to win that first state title. It had worked before, so he kept the same formula heading into his senior year.

Like the old saying goes, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’

“I was just training as hard as I could, all the time, without stopping,” Ashley said. “I just put everything out there. I can’t say I trained harder one year, because I tried my best both years.”

It wasn’t quite an unblemished season. Ashley ended up losing two matches, but rebounded to finish with an overall record of 53-2. He breezed through subregionals and regionals en route to the state finals, where he led Caden Noah of Colfax 4-0 heading into a third and final period that would come down to the wire. Ashley gave up a late reversal to Noah, who nearly put Ashley on his back with 15 seconds to go, which would have likely given the Colfax wrestler the upset.

“I panicked very hard,” Ashley said. “I was so scared. If he scored I would have had to do something crazy to get back in it.”

But Ashley willed himself off his own back, held position and rode out a tight 6-5 victory that put him atop Adna wrestling’s record books.

The second championship was more rewarding than the first, Ashley said, based on how much extra effort he had to put in knowing everyone he faced was gunning for an upset.

“If they beat me it’s like, ‘You beat a state champion,’” Ashley said. “It’s what most people live to do. And knowing everyone was working hard just to be ahead of me was always in the back of my mind.”

Even as the most decorated wrestler in Adna’s history, Ashley doesn’t see himself atop the Pirates wrestling mountain. He sees it more as a Mount Rushmore of wrestlers, which includes former teammates Ashton Dowell and Matthew Slape, who both finished second in their respective weight classes in 2019 and helped train Ashley. Dowell was the Pirates’ first-ever state wrestling champion in 2018.

“I wouldn’t say I’m the best,” Ashley said. “I still think my teammates are up there, like Ashton and Matthew. We’re all the same. I don’t think of them as better than me. I couldn’t have done what I did without having the partners I had.”

Now he’ll join a Southern Oregon program that has won four national championships, most recently in 2001. The Raiders have 13 top-5 team finishes at nationals in the past 25 years. They recently lost legendary 25th-year coach Mike Ritchey to retirement. Joel Gibson, who coached the women’s team in 2019-20, is taking over as the men’s coach this upcoming season, as well.

Southern Oregon University is located in Ashland, Oregon, 14 miles from the California border. As Ashley prepares his next journey he reflects back on those who helped him reach this point of his life. His parents, Ryan and Rebecca Ashley, spent many days driving Lucas to wrestling matches across western Washington.

“The coaches, all the time my parents put in to take me to tournaments and practices, everyone that helped is the reason I am where I am,” Ashley said. “There’s no way I could have been close to where I am without them.”