State Wrestling: A wild night
By Matt Patterson
mpatterson@oklahoman.com
The 87th Annual Oklahoma High School Wrestling Championships is in the books and it didn’t dissapoint. There were upsets, vengeance and suprises galore.
Here’s a few things that caught my eye:
- Midwest City’s improable championship in Class 5A was the biggest surprise, followed closely by Grove in Class 3A. The Bombers won in different fashion this year, relying on Sand Springs’ Znick Ferell to upset Ponca City’s Reno Redleaf to secure the title. The Bombers wrestled well in both bracekts to put themselves into a position to win.
Coach Jody Marple squeezed every ounce of ability out of his team this year. MWC was hurt by Seth Johnson’s loss in the semi-finals (Johnson was never 100 percent after his elbow injury early in the season) but found a hero in Mark Meyer who won at 152 and Drew Hill who battled his way into the finals.
- Del City would have won the Class 5A t itle had Derrick Jackson been able to pin Stacy McGee in the heavyweight finals. Jackson lost, but the fact Del City put itself into a postion to even have a chance at the title with just six wrestlers is amazing. Mike Brady and Tyler Dorrell came home winners Friday and Zack James placed third.
- This year’s crowd was the biggest I’ve seen in 8 years of covering the tournament. I think the fact that there is an ever growing pool of stars (Chris Perry, Dallas Bailey and Ladd Rupp all have a chance to be 4 time champs next year) contributed to the strong turnout. The arena was virtually full at the beginning of the finals.
- Grove winning 3A came out of nowhere. The Ridgerunners were alone in thinking they could win a championship when the tournament started.
- Star Spencer’s Raymond Lane winning his second title in overtime was perhaps the most dramatic single match of the night and it drew a large crowd on the floor. The Lane-Tyson Yoder storyline is a good one and both are grossly underrated, which is saying something considering Yoder is going to Oklahoma State.
It’s unknown where Lane will end up (he talked to OCU coach Archie Randall after his win) but beating the OSU bound Yoder twice under the lights clearly shows Lane has Division I talent.
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