Guthrie High School’s wrestling team qualified eight boys and two girls for the state meet this weekend at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds Arena. Action takes place Friday and Saturday.
The Bluejays had two regional champions in the Class 5A meet, while the Lady Bluejays also had a regional champion.
Eli Kirk (30-1) won the region title at 126 pounds, going 3-0. He recorded falls against Rylen Samuels (Duncan) in 1:47 and Dimitri Kizer (Del City) in 4:38 to advance to the final, where he claimed a 7-1 decision over Nino Vidic of Elgin.
Kaiden Herendeen (28-6) was the other regional champion, also going 3-0. He won his first match on a tech fall over Elijah Ortiz (Altus) 16-1 in 5:34 and then posted an 11-1 major decision over Brice Martin of Elgin. In the championship match, Herendeen beat Jack Ensey of Duncan 8-1.
Wesley Silvis (28-13) placed second at 190 pounds, going 3-1. Silvis won his first three matches on falls in 1:13, 1.43 and 5:49 to get to the championship, where he lost 11-3 to Rinson Meyer of Elgin.
Braden Hall (33-6) bounced back from a loss in the semifinals to claim third place. Hall started with a fall in 1:49 before Grant Gober of Carl Albert edged him 3-2 in the semifinals. Hall bounced back on Saturday with a 10-9 decision over Hunter Davidson (El Reno) to get to the third-place match and beat Elgin’s Jack Anglley 8-0 to earn the state trip.
WRESTLING» PAGE 7 Nic Herendeen (217) was the other thirdplace finisher, going 4-1 to earn his first trip to state. Herendeen won his first two matches by falls in 1:03 and 3:45 to advance to the semifinals. Duncan’s Devon Lolar won that match 4-2 to push Herendeen into the consolation bracket, but he pinned Brock Johnson (Carl Albert) in 2:18 and Shay Spencer of Elgin to earn third place.
Eli Moroney ( 1711) went 3-2 in the tournament to qualify in fourth place. He recorded falls in 1:41 and 1:08 in his first two matches to get to the semifinals, before getting pinned by Carl Albert’s Alex Sutterfield. Saturday, Moroney started with a fall over JT Warner of MacArthur to get into the third-place match, but Ryan Sigler of El Reno pinned Moroney at the end of the first period.
Bryson Hall had to go the long way to qualify after losing a suddenvictory decision in his second match of the day to fall into the consolation round. Hall won his first two consolation matches on falls to get into the consolation semifinals, where he dropped a major decision to Alfredo Zapata of Santa Fe South, 11-3. In the fifth-place match, Hall pinned George Tahdooahnippah of Elgin in 3:58 to qualify for state.
Gabe Sanders was the other fifth-place qualifier, going 3-2. Sanders lost his first match 7-0 and then came back with falls in his first two consolation matches. Carl Albert’s Nathan Sutterfield pinned Sanders in the consolation semifinals and Sanders then pinned Elgin’s Gabe Dittmeyer to claim fifth place. The girls regional was held Feb. 13-14 in Mustang with Khaleah Kirk claiming a regional championship and Cheli Zamora-Hernandez placing third to earn state bids.
Kirk went 5-0 to win her championship, recording falls in 3:03, 1:14 and 47 seconds to get to the semifinal round. Kirk beat Carl Albert’s Janelle Lynch 9- 0 before beating Blanchard’s Lynn Horn 3-2 for the title. It was Horn’s first loss of the season.
Hernandez went 4-1 in the regional, winning her first two matches by falls before getting pinned in the semifinals by Ava Granados of Norman North in the second period. Hernandez bounced back in the consolation round and won her first match by decision and then pinned Kyrain Perez of Westmore in 51 seconds to grab third place.
Tickets for the state meet are $10 a session and can be purchased on the OSSSA website (http://ossaa.com/Wrestling. aspx).
Doors open Friday at 9 a.m. The wrestlein matches that have the fourth-place and fifth-place qualifiers in each weight class start the tournament at 9:30 a.m. The first round starts at 11. The night session opens at 5:15 p.m. with consolation matches and the semi-finals starting at 7:45. The finals start at 6 p.m. Saturday.