WRESTLING Long 2nd, Hawk 3rd at Hub City

Sophomore Isaac Long continued his strong tournament showing for the Kingfisher High School wrestling team.

Long was the top placer for the Jackets at last weekend’s Hub City Classic in Clinton.

The 138-pounder took runner-up in his division and helped KHS to an eighth-place finish.

The Jackets scored 91 total points and had five wrestlers place.

Cushing, which is ranked second in Class 4A behind Tuttle, easily won the tournament with 333.5 points.

Marlow was the runner-up with 250.5. The Outlaws are ranked second in 3A.

Cache took third with 173.5 points.

Long won his first three bracket matches in order to advance to the championship bout.

He pinned Elk City’s Aaron Frye in just 25 seconds in the first round and then edged Marlow’s Trey Southerland 6-4 in the quarterfinal.

Long’s semifinal match against Cache’s Marquez Dowell was even closer as he outlasted him 7-6.

The run ended in the finals as Marlow’s Anthony Orum earned a 16-8 major decision. Orum was the state runner-up at 126 pounds a year ago.

Senior Bryce Hawk reached his 126-pound semifinal before getting bested by Cushing’s Evan Kennedy in 3:31.

However, Hawk came right back to earn a pair of wins and a third-place medal in the consolation bracket.

After his loss, Hawk picked up a 9-6 decision against Andrew Valadez of Elk City and then pinned Wyatt Hollway of Woodward in 2:42 in the third-place match.

Rhylee Toepfer was one of three Jackets to go home with fifth place.

The sophomore lost his 113-pound semifinal bout against Brandon Anderson of Cushing and then his consolation semifinal against Xavier Dykes of Millwood.

But he finished strong by earning a 7-6 win against Ethan Banks of Elk City for fifth. It was Toepfer’s second win over Banks in the tournament.

Anderson, who beat Toepfer in the semifinals, eventually won the gold at 113.

Jon Henry followed that same path at 132 pounds, where the senior was also fifth.

After losing both his semifinal and consolation semifinal, Henry pinned Ian Hodge of Cache in 4:46 to earn fifth.

Henry had beaten Hodge 14-7 in the quarterfinal bout earlier in the tournament.

Blake Neal had to work even harder to get fifth at 182 pounds.

Neal was pinned at 5:42 of his quarterfinal match with Cushing’s Hayden Fry.

Neal won a pair of consolation bouts with first-period pins before a heartbreaking loss to Weatherford’s Mike Hixson in sudden victory.

Hixson and Neal already have a history of narrow matches this season.

Hixson topped Neal 3-2 in the 182-pound championship match of the Cushing Tiger Invitational three weeks prior.

Neal was able to recover from this loss to down Jack Jones of Weatherford, pinning him in 1:11 to win fifth.

Cashion heavyweight Chase Ritter was the only one of five Wildcats to score points for his team.

Ritter went 1-2 in his bracket as he picked up a fall over Vernon’s Gabriel Lee in their first-round consolation match.