STATE TOURNAMENT BOUND

Kingfisher had two wrestlers qualify Saturday for the state tournament and just missed out on a third.

But that was just the half of it.

The team returned Monday and saw two more make their way into the state brackets.

Gant Browning is a state qualifier at 106 pounds and Rhylee Toepfer at 120.

Browning was fourth in his weight class and Toepfer fifth Saturday in the Class 4A west regional held at the Tornado Dome in Clinton.

Two days later, Isaac Long punched his ticket at 160 pounds and Braxton Shellstrom did the same at heavyweight. Both Jackets took fifth at their respective weights.

The quartet of KHS wrestlers will compete in the 4A state tournament this Friday at State Fair Arena.

They helped Kingfisher to a tie for ninth place in the team standings.

The Jackets scored 65 points, as did Newcastle.

Top-ranked and defending state champion Tuttle was dominant throughout.

The Tigers boasted 320 team points, well ahead of runner-up Heritage Hall’s 188.5.

Blanchard took third with 187 points.

The Jackets nearly sent five to the state tournament as Kole Lambert had a shot at qualifying, but was defeated by Heritage Hall’s Gunner McCracken in his fifth-place match at 126 pounds.

Lambert, Browning, Toepfer and Presten Coughlan competed in the regional’s first day of action as the format was changed this year to lessen the amount of competitors and attendees due to COVID 19.

The seven lightest weights (106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138 and 145 pounds) were contested Saturday.

The remaining weights (152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220 and 285 pounds) wrestled Monday.

On Monday, Long qualified for the second straight year when he pinned Clinton’s Mason Taylor at 2:34 of their fifth-place match.

It was Long’s second win over Taylor as he opened the tournament by pinning him in 1:57.

However, he went down in 3:51 to Tuttle’s Tucker Waitman in the quarterfinal round.

That sent Long to the consolation bracket where, after receiving a bye, he pinned Cache’s Elijah Smith.

Kale Visnieski of Weatherford picked up an 8-5 win over Long in the consolation semifinals.

Had Long, a junior, not beaten Taylor, his season would have ended.

Shellstrom faced the same scenario when he faced off against Tuttle’s Jacob Abston for fifth.

Shellstrom entered the regional unseeded.

But the KHS sophomore ended it quickly as he pinned Abston in just 1:12.

Shellstrom was sent to the consolation rounds with a quarterfinal loss to Elk City’s Felix Gonzales.

He came back to beat Weatherford’s Eli Soto, 6-2, and pin Tyler Gares of Cache in 2:00.

Seth Goodman of Harrah pinned Shellstrom to put him in the match.

Browning, a freshman, received a first-round bye before beating Tuttle’s Garrett Spurlock via technical fall at 4:36 of their quarterfinal match.

Harrah’s Liam Russell pinned Browning at 3:18 of their semifinal match.

Browning rebounded in the consolation semifinal to pin Weatherford’s Creek Williams at 3:20 to lock up his spot at state.

Chickasha’s CadenMcElroy then pinned Browning in 48 seconds in their thirdplace match.

After receiving his early bye, Toepfer moved into the semifinals with an 11-6 decision over Ada’s Julio Zummano.

Christian Bermea of Clinton outlasted Toepfer 8-5 in their semifinal and then Harrah’s Colby Winstead did the same by a 4-0 score in the consolation semifinals.

That sent Toepfer, a junior, to the must-win fifthplace match and he did just that with a 21-4 technical fall against Elk City’s Ethan Banks.

Lambert picked up a win in his first-round match before losing in the quarterfinals.

He answered with two straight consolation-round wins - one via sudden victory - to get his spot in the consolation semifinals.

This time, Lambert fell prey to the sudden victory as Levi Harris of Blanchard got that win, sending Lambert to his match against McCracken.

Browning is in the full 106-pound bracket at state.

The brackets weren’t yet released at press time.

Toepfer, Long and Shellstrom will take part in wrestle-in matches, which begin at 10 a.m. Friday.

Should they win the wrestle-in matches, they’ll advance to the complete bracket, which has championship and consolation portions.

A loss in the wrestle-in match will mean elimination.