Evan Mudgett
All year Tuttle has been the heavy favorites in 4A and that was the expectation coming into the state tournament this past weekend. Tuttle qualified 13 wrestlers for the tournament and with almost a full squad, were able to jump out to a comfortable lead early on. After Friday night, they ran away with the title finishing well above the rest of the pack for 16 straight and 21 overall state titles. Tuttle wasn’t the only team that was able to celebrate Saturday night though as 9 different schools crowned a state champion across the fourteen weights. Coach Kidd Gomez won the 4A coach of the year. I remember watching him wrestle in highschool when I was younger, so it was a cool moment to see him get recognized.
The Top 4 Teams finished as follows:
- Tuttle 165.5
- Cascia Hall 88
- Sallisaw 73
- Catoosa 59
Tuttle capped off another historic season with winning what I call the “Triple Crown”: a dual state title, tournament state title and academic state title! I think the dominance for Tuttle in my opinion, is partially credited to the tough schedule they put together year after year. Tuttle puts together a challenging schedule of in state and out-of-state competition and I would imagine that is by design to test their guys to make sure they are ready for the post season.
Tuttle had a great opening day and even better Friday night semi-final round, pushing 8 on to the finals. Bradley (106), Jackson (113), Fisher (120), Slover (126), Hickman (144), Teague (175), Rounsaville (190) and Abston (215) all advanced to the finals Saturday night which more than locked up the team race for Tuttle. In a bit of a surprising fashion though, Tuttle took a bit of a beating in the finals going 2 of 8. 144 was the premier match of the night for 4A with Beau Hickman squaring off against Tre Tecson of Cascia Hall. Hickman controlled the match and a nice takedown combined with a couple stall calls were enough to give him his 3rd state title! Ethan Teague remained undefeated on the season as he caps its off with his 2nd state title at 175 over Yocham of Bristow. Both guys come back for one final season before heading over to Oklahoma State. Eli Probst (157) took a tough loss in the semi-final but was able to bounce back with a 3rd place finish. Bode Wilson (132) and Jace Warren (285) finish on the podium as well giving Tuttle an impressive 11 state placers.
Cascia Hall has been an interesting dynamic to watch all year and are the perfect example of a tournament team vs a dual team. Cascia Hall fell in the 1st round of dual state (Class 3A) but having a solid 5 guys in the lineup, all of which are high caliber wrestlers can really carry you a long way in the state tournament. Cascia Hall looked solid and finished with 3 champions, the most of any team in 4A. Gerald (Boogie) Harris got the team started at 120 and capped off his Junior season with a state title over Fisher of Tuttle. The Velasquez brothers, Miles and Cory, kept things rolling as they went back to back to claim titles at 132 and 138. Miles and Cory have crazy good builds and I can only imagine are ridiculously strong. I am interested to see how they both perform at the next level, as they have both committed to wrestle at the Naval academy in 2025. Tecson came up a little short against Hickamn at 144, which was a crazy matchup of two nationally ranked guys. I remember watching Tre wrestle at 106 just a couple of years ago and now he is a full grown man. Camden Webb took a tough loss in the semi-finals to the eventual champion, but was able to recover and finish 3rd which helped lead Cascia Hall to a team trophy.
After moving up from 3A last season, Sallisaw fell just a bit short of the team trophy but still impressive with a top 3 finish, lead by two state champions: Cason Craft and Cole Mayfield. Craft is the real deal and in his first trip to the state tournament, caps off an undefeated season with a state title at 106. Mayfield followed suit at 150 and wins his 2nd state title over White of Tecumseh. Bodie Adams (165) made a nice run to the finals with a couple of bonus point wins, but came up a bit short in the finals. In his senior year, Noah Flores able to make the podium and finish as a state placer, taking…
