UMPQUA BASIN – The 2017 wrestling tournament begins bright and early Friday in Portland. With wrestlers checking-in as early as 6:30 a.m. on Friday, teams from the Umpqua Basin are headed north on today.

The Roseburg wrestling team will send off its 27 competitors from in front of the Robinson Memorial Gymnasium at 4:57 p.m. today. The Indians qualified a school-record number of wrestlers and are looking for their fourth straight state championship.

The Douglas wrestling team is also sending its wrestlers off in style. Seven Trojan wrestlers will head out of town with a police and fire escort this afternoon. The plan is to send the team off at 2 p.m. and fans are encouraged to get to Douglas High School by around 1:30 p.m.

Other teams headed to the tournament are Sutherlin and South Umpqua, which each have four wrestlers in the 4A tournament, Glide with 14 wrestlers in the 3A tourney, and Oakland and Riddle with two each in the 2A/1A tournament.

Wrestling starts in Portland Friday at 8 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.