Jackets grapplers 3rd at KHS tournament
Henry, Neal claim individual championships during two-day event at APB
KHS SENIOR Jon Henry, shown during a dual against Watonga earlier this season, won the 138-pound title last weekend at the KHS Wrestling Tournament at the APB. [Photo by Chris Simon/www.simon-sports-photos.smugmug.com]
Two Yellowjackets won individual crowns and the team managed third place overall at last weekend’s Kingfisher High School Wrestling Tournament.
Seniors Jon Henry won at 138 and Blake Neal at 182 to help KHS to 141 team points.
Pawnee claimed the team title with 169 as it narrowly beat Edmond North’s 161.
KHS was 14 points ahead of Yukon, which fi nished fourth in the 11-team fi eld.
Henry went 3-0 in his bracket, including a pin of Edmond Memorial’s Tanner Barnes at 3:04 of their championship match.
Henry also won his quarterfinal and semifi nal matches via falls.
Neal only had to wrestle twice once his weight class got past pool matches and made quick work of them.
He pinned Pawnee’s Maliki Adams in just 39 seconds in the semifi nals and then Edmond North’s Jaxon Lister in 2:27 of their fi nal.
Neal is Kingfi sher’s lone returning state qualifier this season.
The Jackets had two other wrestlers competing for gold in Saturday afternoon’s fi nal round.
Bryce Hawk had to settle for second at 132 pounds after being pinned by Harlin Britt of Pawnee in 55 seconds.
Britt had the most falls in the tournament. Among those he pinned was Kingfisher’s Presten Coughlan in the semifi nals.
Coughlan went on to pin Yukon’s Auguste Hixson for third place.
The Jackets’ other silver medalist was Isaac Long at 145 pounds.
Long pinned teammate Wayde Barrios in the quarterfinals then bested Edmond North’s Beau Dolf 9-2 to earn a spot in the championship.
Tristian Burdick of Tonkawa earned a technical fall over Long in the finals en route to being named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler.
Other medalists for Kingfisher included Gye Roedel at 160 and Grayson Bromlow at 195 at each took home a bronze medal.
Roedel was defeated by Ben Mower of Edmond Memorial in the semifi nals before bouncing back to knock off Jay Cox of Little Axe with a fall at 1:46 for third.
Mower eventually won the weight class.
Bromlow was outlasted, 1-0, by Keetyn Oppelt of Yukon in their quarterfi nal matchup.
He came back to win two straight, including avenging the loss to Oppelt in the bronze medal match. This time Bromlow emerged 9-6.
Other placers for the Jackets included: Brenden Toepfer fourth and Rhylee Toepfer fifth at 113 pounds; Zac Smith fourth at 120 pounds; Thomas Hines fifth and Barrios sixth at 145 pounds.
Team Results
Pawnee 169 Edmond North 161 Kingfi sher 141 Yukon 127 Tonkawa 109.5 Edmond Memorial 93.5 Little Axe 90 Enid 47 Northwest Classen 46 OCS 23.5 Casady 20