 |
|||||||||||||||
|
By: Casey Porter
The Bluejay wrestlers traveled to Chickasha this weekend and finished 8th out of 14 teams in the Chickasha Invitational tournament. Guthrie placed five wrestlers and won some matches they were not favored in. Bluejay assistant coach, Scott Pope, was pleased with the weekend.
“This weekend was not too bad. We had some kids wrestle above expectations, and we showed up to wrestle.”
Despite giving up 15 to 20 pounds to every opponent, Aaron Kitch continues to wrestle well, but did not win a match. Meanwhile, his brother, freshman Ryan Kitch, had one of his most successful weekends of the years reigning in a very impressive 4th place finish at 112 pounds.
Coach Pope knew Ryan was going to be outmatched when he wrestled the older kids, because they are so much more mature and experienced, but was very excited about Kitch’s performance.
“Ryan’s still running into some tough upper classmen, but we’re looking forward to big things from this freshman. It definitely helps him getting to work out with Kolt Rinehart in practice,” Pope said of Kitch’s bright future as a Bluejay.
Kolt Rinehart had the #1 wrestler at 112 pounds in the State of Oklahoma in his bracket and wrestled a very tough finals match, but finished second. Coach Pope was very impressed with the mental toughness that Rinehart showed all weekend.
“Kolt had a tough match right off the bat and he got down early, but he showed a lot of toughness in coming back and winning that match. He’s proving that he’s right there with the best wrestlers in the state.”
The Russell brothers had another good weekend as Josh Won a match and showed a lot of offense, as did his brother Jeff as well. 215 pounder, Tanner Goddard was in the same boat, as, at times, wrestled very well, but did not place.
Maybe the most pleasant surprise of the weekend was 140 pounder Dillon Turpin. The Junior entered the tournament seeded fourth but finished in second place with a very impressive showing. Turpin, according to coach Pope, showed a lot of offense and was outstanding on his feet all tournament long.
Although John Kane’s 3rd place performance at 189 pounds may not have been as big of a surprise, it certainly was just as pleasing for his coaches to watch. Kane went 3-1 on the weekend and continues to build momentum heading towards the post season. Coach Pope likes what he sees in Kane’s performance as of late.
“John is so talented on his feet, and lost just 5-1 against the tournament winner. He’s right there with the best in state when he takes good shots and stays aggressive,” coach Pope said of Kane’s continued good wrestling.
For the second weekend in a row, 145 pound Bluejay star, Ryan Bilyeu, lost in the finals match, and for the second week in a row the finals match took overtime to decide. This week Bilyeu’s loss came in the third overtime period as #2 ranked Porter from Carl Albert won the coin toss, chose down and escaped to win the match and first place in the tournament.
In the first :60 sudden victory overtime period Bilyeu was deep in a couple single legs but could not finish them. Porter was able to play defense well enough to force a second overtime period.
The second overtime featured two: 30 second periods where each wrestler got to be in the down position, and each escaped easily within the first ten seconds of the period.
The third period comes down to the luck of a coin toss as the winner of the toss gets their choice of up or down. Almost all wrestlers choose down, as it is easier to escape than ride out the period, and that’s exactly what Porter did against Bilyeu for the win. Coach Pope said that although Bilyeu wrestled very well, he was very disappointed.
“Ryan’s disappointed anytime he doesn’t finish first, but he wrestled very tough this weekend and is definitely setting himself up to have a lot of success in the last part of this season,” Coach Pope said of Bilyeu’s second place performance this weekend.
The Bluejays wrestle in the Conference duals at Carl Albert against Chickasha on Tuesday, then will take on Northwest Classen on Thursday for a dual. The Chicks have only eight wrestlers out of the fourteen weights, but are very tough none the less. The Bluejays will have to forfeit heavyweight, and will have to shuffle their lineup to fill as many weights as possible.
Junior High
The Junior High was not in action this past weekend but will wrestle in the Conference duals Tuesday at Carl Albert. The Bluejays finished second on the North side of the conference and will be wrestling for third or fourth place.
Pee Wee Wrestling
YMCA State Championships
|
Jordan Hobson |
Division 3 |
52 pounds |
2nd Place |
|
Seth Thomason |
Division 3 |
76 Pounds |
3rd Place |
|
Jeremiah Hembree |
Division 3 |
Heavyweight |
4th Place |
|
Reggie Dunn |
Division 4 |
92 pounds |
2nd Place |