Long just misses podium at state

If there is such a thing as luck of the draw in wrestling, Isaac Long didn’t have it.

The Kingfisher High School sophomore had a strong showing at last week’s state wrestling tournament, but fell one win short of making the 138-pound medal podium at State Fair Arena.

His losses Friday and Saturday - and the week before at regional - proved to be to the state’s best.

Long pinned Fort Gibson’s Cole Mahaney in 3:09 in the quarterfinal round Friday morning to earn a spot in the semifinal.

Once there, he took top-seeded Ryder Ramsey of Tuttle into the second period before being pinned at 3:12.

Ramsey went on to win the state title, the third of his career.

The Tiger senior won at 126 pounds in 2018 and 132 pounds a year ago to go with a third-place finish at 126 as a freshman.

Ramsey defeated Heritage Hall’s K.J. Evans, 6-3, in the championship bout Saturday night.

It was Evans who defeated Long for third place in their regional match the previous weekend.

Evans, however, opted to take Long’s spot in the wrestle-in match in order to avoid potentially facing Ramsey until the finals.

It worked as Evans earned a pin just 26 seconds into the wrestle-in match, then beat second-seeded Dylan Brown of Cleveland, 8-5, in the quarterfinals.

Brown was the 4A east regional champ this year and also was the runner-up to Ramsey in last year’s 132-pound state bracket.

After Brown won his first consolation match, he was pitted against Long in the consolation semifinals

The winner of the match likely would be a medalist.

Brown earned a 12-2 major decision over Long before beating Mahaney 10-2 for third place.

Long scored all four of Kingfisher’s points as the Jackets were 21st in the team standings.

Tuttle won its 12th straight title in runaway fashion.

The Tigers scored 247 points and had nine individual state champs. Cushing was runner-up with 116. Blanchard took third with 58.

The Jackets’ only other win at the state tournament came from senior Blake Neal.

Making his second appearance at state, Neal picked up a 9-1 major decision over Cascia Hall’s Grant Baber in their 182-pound wrestle-in match.

That pitted him against Tuttle’s Luke Surber in the quarterfinal.

Surber, an Oklahoma State commit, pinned him in 37 seconds en route to winning his third individual state title.

Madill’s John Venable defeated Neal in their consolation quarterfinal.

Seniors Bryce Hawk (126 pounds) and Jon Henry (132 pounds) were defeated in their wrestle-in matches Friday morning.