From Near Falls to Victory Calls: Elgin's Dramatic Journey to 2024 Dual State Championship

The Elgin Owls fought their way through three tough duals to win the 2024 Class 5A Dual State championship Saturday in Enid. As expected the Class 5A Tournament produced several tight duals, but in the end it was Elgin coming out on top after scoring close victories over Guthrie, Chickasha and Coweta in the finals.

In the quarterfinals, Elgin topped Guthrie 40-30, Chickasha beat Lawton Mac 49-27, Coweta won over Carl Albert 48-27 and Claremore got past Grove, 40-33. Almost lost in Elgin’s journey to the championship is that it could have ended in the 1^st round, but a startling fall in the 2^nd match of the day helped Elgin get past Guthrie. A 12-point swing occurred at 175 lbs, when Elgin’s George Tahdooahnippah scored a dramatic fall when he had almost been pinned earlier in the match. Tahdooahnippah trailed 6-0, after fighting out of two serious near fall situations in the 2^nd period. In the 3^rd period, he was nearly taken down but instead ended up hitting a headlock and getting the match winning fall for Elgin as they went on to post the 40-30 win over Guthrie.

*Elgin head coach, Cody Rowell. Photo: Mark Kirk*

In the semifinals, number one ranked Coweta won nine matches including getting falls from Baylor Bart, Legend Ellis, Colby Eighinger, Brian Ballard and Ben Mendenhall to defeat Claremore, 44-21. Elgin once again had a battle on their hands as they slipped past a strong Chickasha team, 38-31. The dual went back and forth dual and wasn’t decided until a fall by Elgin’s Jack Anglley in the final match of the dual, gave the Owls the thrilling win to advance to the finals. The fall was made even more dramatic as Anglley wrestled with a broken hand, deciding just the day before the tournament to cut off the cast and wrestle.

The finals started at 190 lbs. and 2^nd ranked Elgin got off to a red hot start, winning the first five matches to open a 26-0 lead. Elgin got falls from state placer Colyn Donnelly, state champion Ritson Meyer, a 1-0 win by 2^nd ranked Jace Williams over 4^th ranked and returning state runner-up Deacon Peterson, a fall by 2^nd ranked Talon Tahdooahnippah and a tech fall win by 2X state placer Hunter Jackson to open up a lead they would never surrender.

5A Dual State Interviews:

Coweta countered with three wins in a row to make it 26-15. At 120 lbs., 4^th ranked (at 126) Thomas Carney got a fall over 4^th ranked (at 120) Brice Martin, with 2^nd ranked and undefeated Legend Ellis winning by fall and state champion Toby Shipman winning by major decision.

Elgin all but locked up the dual, winning close matches in the next two weights. JH state champion Braxten Antuna picked up a critical 3-2 win over 8^th ranked Colby Eighinger and 10^th ranked (at 138) Gage Elam used two sets of near fall points in the 3^rd period to take a 5-2 win over 4^th ranked Brian Ballard. Coweta’s state placer and 2^nd ranked Brock Roberts scored a fall making it 32-21 in favor of Elgin with three matches remaining.

Elgin bumped 6^th ranked freshman Kason Meyer up a weight and he sealed the win for Elgin as his reversal with 25 seconds remaining secured an 8-5 win and started a loud victory celebration by the Elgin fans. 5^th ranked Gabe Dittmeyer added the final points for the winning Owls as he scored a 5-4 TB win over 7^th ranked Baylor Bart. A forfeit win for Coweta’s Brock Heilmann made the final score Elgin – 28, Coweta – 18.

Elgin’s first time to qualify for Dual State didn’t occur until 2017, but now the Owls have qualified seven times in the past eight years, including winning back-to-back Dual State titles.

After winning the title, Head Coach Cody Rowell, now in his 8^th season at Elgin stated “It feels awesome! This group of kids have been through some adversity, but they have been resilient. Rowell went on to say, “We had to do it the hard way this year. All three matches were dog fights but that is what we trained for. I know what these kids are made of and they went out there and got it done.”

FINALS

ELGIN defeated COWETA 38-28

190 – Colyn Donnelly (ELGIN) over Jaden Finley (COWETA) Fall 5:33
215 – Ritson Meyer (ELGIN) over Hunter Reavis (COWETA) Fall 0:55
285 – Jace Williams (ELGIN) over Deacon Peterson (COWETA) Dec 1-0
106 – Talon Tahdooahnippah (ELGIN) over Caleb Jones (COWETA) Fall 3:07
113 – Hunter Jackson (ELGIN) over Logan Kerr (COWETA) TF 18-1
120 – Tohmi Carney (COWETA) over Brice Martin (ELGIN) Fall 3:45
126 – Legend Ellis (COWETA) over Dylen Lazzar (ELGIN) Fall 1:51
132 – Toby Shipman (COWETA) over Dylan Brown (ELGIN) Maj 9-1
138 – Braxten Antuna (ELGIN) over Colby Eighinger (COWETA) Dec 3-2
144 – Gage Elam (ELGIN) over Brian Ballard (COWETA) Dec 5-2
150 – Brock Roberts (COWETA) over Juan Soto (ELGIN) Fall 1:11
157 – Kason Meyer (ELGIN) over Ben Mendenhall (COWETA) Dec 8-5
165 – Gabe Dittmeyer (ELGIN) over Baylor Bart (COWETA) TB-1 5-4
175 – Brock Heilmann (COWETA) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

FINALS

Elgin – 38 Coweta – 28

SEMIFINALS

Elgin – 38 Chickasha – 31

Coweta – 44 Claremore – 21

QUARTERFINALS

Elgin – 40 Guthrie – 30

Chickasha – 49 Lawton Mac – 27

Coweta – 48 Carl Albert – 27

Claremore – 40 Grove – 33

SEMIFINALS

ELGIN defeated CHICKASHA 38-31

175 – Tyren Alexander (CHICKASHA) over George Tahdooahnippah (ELGIN) Dec 3-2
190 – Colyn Donnelly (ELGIN) over Jonavin Mullins (CHICKASHA) TF 20-5
215 – Ritson Meyer (ELGIN) over Ayden Benitez (CHICKASHA) Fall 2:39
285 – Jace Williams (ELGIN) over Landon Milliser (CHICKASHA) Fall 1:23
106 – Canaan Brummett (CHICKASHA) over Talon Tahdooahnippah (ELGIN) Dec 4-3
113 – Jarrett Patty (CHICKASHA) over Daniel Becerra (ELGIN) Fall 0:43
120 – Hunter Jackson (ELGIN) over Joshua Moore (CHICKASHA) Fall 5:01
126 – Clint Longanacre (CHICKASHA) over Brice Martin (ELGIN) Fall 2:52
132 – Colby Longanacre (CHICKASHA) over Dylan Brown (ELGIN) Fall 2:20
138 – Dylan Bratt (CHICKASHA) over Gage Elam (ELGIN) Maj 10-2
144 – Braxten Antuna (ELGIN) over Cooper Brumley (CHICKASHA) Dec 7-1
150 – Cole Beier (CHICKASHA) over Kason Meyer (ELGIN) Dec 2-0
157 – Gabe Dittmeyer (ELGIN) over Cache Wilson (CHICKASHA) Fall 4:38
165 – Jack Anglley (ELGIN) over Jayden Thomas (CHICKASHA) Fall 0:48

COWETA defeated CLAREMORE 44-21

175 – Baylor Bart (COWETA) over Nathaniel Escobar (CLAREMORE) Fall 2:50
190 – Brock Heilmann (COWETA) over Matthew Franklin (CLAREMORE) SV-1 3-1
215 – Cameron Braswell (CLAREMORE) over Jaden Finley (COWETA) Fall 3:09
285 – Josh Feliciano (CLAREMORE) over Deacon Peterson (COWETA) Dec 1-0
106 – Caleb Jones (COWETA) over Ethan Boyd (CLAREMORE) Dec 5-0
113 – Raul Perez (CLAREMORE) over Logan Kerr (COWETA) Dec 5-2
120 – Mason Gillispie (CLAREMORE) over Tohmi Carney (COWETA) Dec 10-8
126 – Legend Ellis (COWETA) over Andrew Handcock (CLAREMORE) Fall 4:42
132 – Toby Shipman (COWETA) over Gunner Murray (CLAREMORE) TF 15-0
138 – Colby Eighinger (COWETA) over Maddox Jackson (CLAREMORE) Fall 2:28
144 – Brock Roberts (COWETA) over Michael Robertson (CLAREMORE) Dec 6-0
150 – Brian Ballard (COWETA) over Alex Miller (CLAREMORE) Fall 4:33
157 – Ben Mendenhall (COWETA) over Silas Towry (CLAREMORE) Fall 1:36
165 – Cooper Zickefoose (CLAREMORE) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

QUARTERFINALS

ELGIN defeated GUTHRIE 40-30

165 – Bryson Hall (GUTHRIE) over Ramiro Granados (ELGIN) Fall 1:39
175 – George Tahdooahnippah (ELGIN) over Tyler Gettins (GUTHRIE) Fall 5:12
190 – Wesley Silvis (GUTHRIE) over Colyn Donnelly (ELGIN) Fall 5:00
215 – Ritson Meyer (ELGIN) over Eli Moroney (GUTHRIE) Fall 1:38
285 – Jace Williams (ELGIN) over Nik Herendeen (GUTHRIE) Dec 6-2
106 – Talon Tahdooahnippah (ELGIN) over Joel Landry (GUTHRIE) Fall 0:27
113 – Kaedin Herendeen (GUTHRIE) over Daniel Becerra (ELGIN) Fall 2:30
120 – Hunter Jackson (ELGIN) over Matt Jirous (GUTHRIE) Fall 1:00
126 – Brice Martin (ELGIN) over Dax Lopez (GUTHRIE) Maj 13-5
132 – Luke Lyons (GUTHRIE) over Dylan Brown (ELGIN) Dec 5-1
138 – Clayton Carey (GUTHRIE) over Gage Elam (ELGIN) Dec 3-2
144 – Braxten Antuna (ELGIN) over Robert Brown (GUTHRIE) Dec 8-4
150 – Kason Meyer (ELGIN) over Roston Uselton (GUTHRIE) Fall 1:50
157 – Rowan McHone (GUTHRIE) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

CHICKASHA defeated MACARTHUR 49-27

165 – Tyren Alexander (CHICKASHA) over Nik Chadwell (MACARTHUR) Fall 1:18
175 – Skylar Red Elk (MACARTHUR) over Jayden Thomas (CHICKASHA) Fall 0:42
190 – Braden Brown (MACARTHUR) over Jonavin Mullins (CHICKASHA) Fall 2:00
215 – Trae Kibble (MACARTHUR) over Ayden Benitez (CHICKASHA) Dec 6-4
285 – JT Warner (MACARTHUR) over Landon Milliser (CHICKASHA) Fall 2:39
106 – Canaan Brummett (CHICKASHA) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
113 – Egan Ladd (CHICKASHA) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
120 – Jarrett Patty (CHICKASHA) over Zach Flores (MACARTHUR) Fall 3:03
126 – Clint Longanacre (CHICKASHA) over Garrett Justice (MACARTHUR) Fall 2:52
132 – Colby Longanacre (CHICKASHA) over Tostan Felber (MACARTHUR) Fall 1:00
138 – Dylan Bratt (CHICKASHA) over Kaden Wallace (MACARTHUR) Dec 3-0
144 – Christian Morales (MACARTHUR) over Landon Beier (CHICKASHA) Fall 2:55
150 – cooper Brumley (CHICKASHA) over Ephreim Morris (MACARTHUR) Fall 5:37
157 – Cole Beier (CHICKASHA) over Malachi Jefferson (MACARTHUR) Maj 17-3