Kochenower leads KHS to 3rd at WC

It appears Kingfisher’s wrestling program continues to trend in the right direction.

The Yellowjackets took third place in the Western Conference Tournament held Friday and Saturday at the APB.

“That’s our highest placing in almost 10 years,” noted coach Steven Wilson.

Four Jackets reached the finals of their brackets and Brayden Kochenower was able to claim gold at 138 pounds.

“He was outstanding all weekend long,” Wilson said of the sophomore.

Kochenower beat Pawnee’s Nathan Goodman 4-2 in Saturday night’s championship bout.

He notched 26 of Kingfi sher’s 153 points.

Clinton won the tournament with 224.5 points. Pawnee was the runner-up with 161.5.

Hinton took fourth with 141.5 while Heritage Hall was in fifth place with 139 points.

There were 28 schools represented at the tournament and 24 of them scored points.

Cashion placed 19th with 39 points.

Gant Browning reached the 132-pound final, Damien Haynes did the same at 144 and Mason Alig reached the finals at 175 pounds. Each one claimed a silver medal. Browning was pinned by Heritage Hall’s Peyton Park at 3:14 of their championship bout. Park was a state qualifier at 120 pounds in Class 4A last year. Haynes reached a final for the second time this season. Cameron Bowman of Kiefer pinned him at 4:47 in the finals.

The senior earned a team-high 28 points for the Jackets.

Davis’ Rance Digby, a state qualifier at 190 pounds in Class 3A last year, earned a technical fall over Alig in their championship.

Freshman Jaxon Sheppard finished third at 126 pounds.

Sheppard was defeated in the semifinals before bouncing back to win two straight in the consolation bracket.

He pinned Christian Gipson at 4:48 of the thirdplace match.

Jose Santoyo was sixth at 190 to give the Jackets their other placer.

Kaleb Duran led Cashion’s showing by placing fourth at 185 pounds.

He scored 18 of his team’s points.

Cashion’s junior high boys were fifth in their team standings.

They were led by Jacob Reese, who won in an ultimate tie-breaker to claim gold at 195 pounds.

Kingfisher took eighth with 103.5 points.

Adan Mendez was fourth at 155 pounds and four other Jacket grapplers took fifth in their respective weight classes.

Following are the final high school team standings:

Team Points Clinton 224.5 Pawnee 161.5 Kingfisher 153 Hinton 141.5 Heritage Hall 139 Woodward 116.5 OCS 114 Davis 112.5 Elk City 108 Watonga 108 Tecumseh 102 Newkirk 76 Mangum 70 Hobart 54 Kiefer 52.5 Hennessey 49 Casady 48 Morrison 41.5 Cashion 39 Cache 36.5 Harrah 21 Anadarko 20 Geary 12 Cordell 6