Chuck Larsen
Commitment – that was the buzzword Thursday night at Chickasha wrestling’s annual post-season banquet.
Head coach Chad Randle reminded the athletes, focusing particularly on the junior high and youth wrestlers, that wrestling takes commitment on the mat and also in the classroom.
It was a long season, between injuries and eligibility problems, but in the end the Chicks qualified three wrestlers for state and brought home a state champion and a state placer.
Senior Colton Hill won the 189 pound title last Saturday in Oklahoma City.
“I was really proud of Colton,” the coach said. “He was Chickasha’s tenth state champion, and he won it in dominating fashion, pinning his first two kids, then winning 6-0 in the championship match. He didn’t get a single point scored on him through the entire state tournament and it doesn’t get any more dominating than that.”
Junior Kyle Farley placed third in the heavyweight division after missing most of the season with a pre-season ACL injury.
“Kyle just got back about three weeks ago,” Randle said. “I didn’t know if he would even last through Regionals, much less make it to state. For him to do what he did and compete at the level he did and place third wrestling at about 80% at best with that big brace on is a great story. He knew all along that he was coming back.”
Farley was the definition of the commitment the coach talked about. Sidelined for the first ten weeks of the season, he was still at every practice and at every match or tournament supporting his short-handed teammates.
Brown, only the third freshman state qualifier in the program’s history, didn’t place at 215 pounds but has three more chances for a state title.
“Jacoby went up there and won a match,” the coach said. “The kids that did beat him were upperclassmen who were just a little better and more experienced than him right now. But it was a great experience for him and he has unlimited potential. He has the same commitment these other two have and that’s the great part of it.”
Hill won the team Outstanding Wrestler trophy and Farley took home the Iron Man hardware.
Brown won the freshman Outstanding Wrestler trophy and David Eakers was the freshman Iron Man.
The Outstanding Junior High Wrestler trophy went to eighth-grader Daniel Neff, who placed sixth at the junior high state tournament, and the Outstanding Novice Wrestler was claimed by sixth-grader Dominic Neff.
Sixth-grader Javier Willetts won the Purple and Gold Award and Iron Man Awards went to eighth-graders Conner Crosley and Triston Hill, seventh-graders Riley Williams and Zach Neesmith and sixth-graders Dakota Resendez and Dominic Neff.
Five-year-old Kameron Cecil was this year’s recipient of the annual Ren Meeks Award.
Other youth award winners were seven-year-olds Colby Resendez (Novice Iron Man) and Cash Muncrief (Iron Man), ten-year-old Trenton Wilson (Novice Outstanding Wrestler) and four-year-old Caison Muncrief, who placed third at the Youth State Open Tournament (Outstanding Youth Wrestler).
