The first weekend of November means it’s time for wrestling in Oklahoma. The feature event over the weekend was the annual Red River Rivalry All-Star Dual. Several preseason tournaments also kicked off the season on Saturday. While Bedlam football may have been the main event, there was plenty of wrestling action going on in Bixby, Edmond North, Lawton Mac, and Putnam City West. As a side note, in case you didn’t know, the term “bedlam” was first used to describe the intense action at an OSU-OU wrestling match.
Taking place in Yukon, the Red River Rivalry featured outstanding wrestling between the Oklahoma All-Star teams and the Texas All-Stars in ten matches in both the boy’s and girl’s duals. Unfortunately, Texas took both duals, defeating the girls, 37-12 and the boys, 34-7.
The girl’s dual got off to a strong start for Oklahoma with 2X state placer Ashley Johnson (Poteau) scoring an upset win over Zurri Zamora, who came into the dual ranked 22nd in the nation. Johnson scored the winning takedown in sudden victory to take the thrilling 8-6 SV win. Fargo All-American Addie Morse (Harrah) made it two in a row for Team Oklahoma with an exciting 7-6 win over Emma Graves. Morse trailed by one before scoring a reversal and near fall points with just over a minute remaining on her way to the win. Edmond North’s Fargo national champion Bella Williams picked up Oklahoma’s last win. Williams, an undefeated 2X state champion, led 10-2 before pinning Madi Canales in 2:34.
Texas, with seven nationally ranked wrestlers in their line-up, won the remaining matches. In two matches featuring two nationally ranked wrestlers, Texas was able to win both matches. At 143, Taylin Silco (ranked 19th at 140) posted a narrow 5-3 win over Oklahoma’s Kaylee Davis (ranked 19th at 155). At 136, Texas Anna Vogt (ranked 8th) picked up a win over Oklahoma’s 29th ranked Shelby Kemp (Moore). Norman North’s Coty Sessions fell to 7th ranked Riley Rayome, Yukon’s Abigail O’Kelly fell to #17 Mariah Dillard, Putnam City’s Rylie Liefkowitz lost to #25 Annabelle Davis and Perry’s Alyson Sykes fell to #25 Rylee Ferranti…