La Grande boys finish third at 2026 OSAA meet, two state champions

La Grande High School’s boys wrestling team finished third overall at the 2026 OSAA state wrestling championships, held Feb. 26–28 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, and an Instagram post celebrating the program said La Grande produced eight placers and two state champions — Colton Livingston and senior Tommy Belding. The Instagram post read, "La Grande had 8 placers and 2 state champions. Congratulations to Colton Livingston and Tommy Belding.(3X State Champion)."

Tommy Belding, a senior at 157 pounds, capped a 30-2 season and a career that OSAA preview materials described as “no surprises” coming into the tournament; OSAA noted he entered as a two-time state champion and had won the 157 bracket at the Reser’s Tournament of Champions. Flowrestling and Sports/Yahoo bracket lines show Belding recorded tech-fall victories that helped carry him through the podium: “Tommy Belding (La Grande Boys) 34-2 won by tech fall over Dillon Bennet (Tillamook Boys) 17-12 (TF-1.5 2:29 (18-3))” and “Semifinal - Tommy Belding (La Grande Boys) 34-2 won by tech fall over Jake Kenton (Molalla Boys) 41-14 (TF-1.5 3:23 (19-3)).” Sports Illustrated and the Instagram post identify Belding as a three-time state champion.

Instagram’s congratulatory line names Colton Livingston alongside Belding as a La Grande champion; OSAA background notes Livingston placed sixth as a freshman, missed state with an injury as a sophomore, and “fell short of the podium last season.” The bracket excerpts supplied do not include Livingston’s individual match lines in the snippets provided here, so the social-media congratulations are the explicit source for Livingston’s 2026 champion claim in this dataset.

La Grande’s girls program also provided major contributions to the weekend. Sports Illustrated reported La Grande won its third 4A/3A/2A/1A girls state title, and coach Kai Carson highlighted program growth: “We have 25-30 girls and it’s just awesome to see the girls program and how girls wrestling has just thrived and grown, even in Eastern Oregon,” Carson said. Carson also noted depth in the program at the district level: “I think we had 12 in the finals, so that was huge. It’s something you hope for, but then the kids really rose up to the occasion and it was really fun for sure.”

Bracket excerpts and match lines from Flowrestling and Sports/Yahoo show the eight La Grande placers reflected in the Instagram post. On the boys side, senior Riley Krantz appears in the bracket line “Brayden Cooley (Seaside Boys) 39-6 won by fall over Riley Krantz (La Grande Boys) 33-11 (Fall 4:26),” and Noah Collins is listed in “Semifinal - Hans Kamm (Cascade Boys) 46-6 won by fall over Noah Collins (La Grande Boys) 35-13 (Fall 1:55).” On the girls side, Flowrestling and Sports/Yahoo show Avrey Robinson’s fall win over Paige Ledgerwood (Fall 2:52), Carleigh Radke’s tech-fall win over Taylor Smith (TF-1.5 4:20 (16-0)), Sydnee Azure’s fall over Scarlett McHugh (Fall 3:44), Rhiley Lees’ fall over Bethany Dunn (Fall 3:47), and Ella Risteen’s loss to Gracie Williams (Fall 2:27).

With seniors including Tommy Belding and Riley Krantz completing their high school careers and a girls program OSAA and SI coverage characterize as deep and growing, La Grande wrestling heads into the offseason with a third-place boys finish at the state meet and multiple individual medalists to build around for next season under head coach Kai Carson.