Crowns, pins & wins
Snodgrass named king, then delivers big win in KHS dual
WRESTLING ROYALTY - Stone Snodgrass and Abby Gray were crowned Kingfisher High School wrestling homecoming king and queen Thursday night at the APB. Members of the homecoming court seated are, from left, MacKenzie Holmes, Audrey Ellis, Gray and Alyssa Cru
The second Will Dunigan clinched with Stone Snodgrass for the first time, Snodgrass knew he was in trouble.
“He was strong,” said Snodgrass. “As soon as he grabbed hold of me, I knew I would probably have to out-move him.”
And that’s what Snodgrass did, but it took every bit of the six minutes during their 145-pound match Thursday at the APB.
Snodgrass scored a take-down with 30 seconds left, then rode out Dunigan the rest of the period to eek out a 4-3 victory.
Snodgrass’s win gave KHS a 21-0 lead in what turned into a 57-18 victory on homecoming night for KHS wrestling.
Prior to the dual, Snodgrass was crowned homecoming king while Abby Gray was named the queen.
Snodgrass won the 132-pound title at last weekend’s Western Conference Wrestling Tournament, but was up two weight classes on homecoming night.
He tipped the scales at 135 pounds prior to the dual, making him eligible at 138.
However, his services were needed at 145.
“It was a steep bump given that I was under weight for the next class down,” Snodgrass said.
The two went scoreless in the first quarter and for much of the second before Dunigan was able to score a two-point near fall.
However, Snodgrass reversed him with 45 seconds left and the two went into the last period knotted up.
Dunigan escaped at the 1:10 mark for a 3-2 advantage before Snodgrass eventually made the winning move.
The two went out of bounds with 22 seconds left and Snodgrass worked to keep Dunigan down for the duration of the match.
The Jackets built a 39-0 lead before the Cyclones got their first win at 195 when Jacket Barrett was able to secure a pin against Owen Vincent.
The dual started at 126 pounds and KHS got falls in the first three matches.
Jon Henry got it started by pinning Parker Gwin at 4:49.
Brady Friesen followed that up and after dominating Kian Stepp at 132 pounds, pinned him with 12 seconds remaining in the match.
Presten Coughlan needed just 1:27 to pin Brooks Talton at 138 pounds.
Gye Roedel followed Snodgrass and pinned Pierce Wade 1:56 into their 152-pound bout.
After a double forfeit at 160, Grayson Bromlow gave KHS its quickest victory when he pinned Jack Christ in just 35 seconds in their 170 pound match.
Blake Neal got a forfeit win at 182 pounds for the 39-point lead.
The Cyclones got their points over the next three matches.
Nick Armoudian, who won the 220-pound weight class at the conference tournament, pinned Kingfisher’s Kevin Velarde in 37 seconds.
C.J. Little then caught Wes Hine at 58 seconds of their heavyweight match, pulling Casady within 39-18.
However, the Cyclones had to forfeit at the three lightest weights, giving Rhylee Toepfer (106 pounds), Dawson Garvin
(113) and Ben Erwin (120) wins.
The dual came two days after the Jackets’ hopes of a fourth straight trip to the dual state championships were dashed.
Mangum knocked off the Jackets 36-34 in their first dual of the day. The Tigers went on to win all of their duals, claiming the 3A-1 championship and advancing to dual state.
“We got stuck (pinned) five times,” noted KHS co-head coach Fay Barnett. “And a couple of those were some where we probably shouldn’t have let that happen.
“If we don’t get pinned in just one of those matches, we win.”
Kingfisher went on to beat Geary 48-30, Cordell 72-12 and Hinton 52-29.