Oklahoma Regional Tournament History

What a year it has been! With events constantly being cancelled, postponed or altered, high school wrestling in Oklahoma was certainly a challenge. Fortunately, following proper safety precautions, many events did take place and we have finally made it to the all-important post season action.

As always, winning the state championship is the ultimate goal for the high school wrestlers. A critical and necessary step in that goal is to qualify at the Regional Tournament. Although winning a Regional title is not the ultimate goal, it is still a noteworthy accomplishment and something to recognize. While the list of teams winning state championships can easily be found, that is not the case with finding a list of Regional champions.

As the wrestlers prepare for this weekend’s Regional Tournaments, it seemed appropriate to review the history and records of the Regional Tournament.

Prior to 1934, Oklahoma A&M (OSU) and OU each held separate open “State” Tournaments and Regional Tournaments were not held. Starting in 1934, the State Tournament came under control of the Oklahoma High School Athletic Association (later the OSSAA). From 1934 to 1942, the method of qualifying varied, but the most common method was the top three individuals from four Regional sites qualified for State. Due to World War II, not as many teams were competing and Regional Tournaments were not held from 1943 to 1949.

A unique qualifying system was used from 1950 to 1952. Part of it was the usual top four individuals at each weight qualifying, but the unique part was the top four teams from the previous year automatically qualified their entire team and did not participate in the Regional Tournaments.

In the 1960s and 70s, wrestling experienced tremendous growth as the popularity of the sport exploded. This growth led to many adjustments to keep up with the growing number of schools fielding teams. Listed below are the dates and changes that were made.

1960 – Four Regional Tournaments held and the number of weight classes increased from 10 to 12.
1961 – Split into two classes (Class A and 2A)
1967 – Four Regional Tournaments in Class A
1969 – Class A had District Tournaments prior to the Regional Tournaments
1970 – Split into three classes (Class 2A, 3A and 4A)
1975, 1976 and 1977 – Four Regional Tournaments in Class 2A
1978 – Split into four classes (Class A, 2A, 3A and 4A)
1981 – 13th weight class added
1988 – Classes renamed 2A, 3A, 4A and 5A
1996 – 14th weight class added
2009 – Classes renamed 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A

For many years, if a wrestler qualified for State, but was unable to participate, he was replaced by a teammate. The most famous example of this practice was in 1992, when Putnam City’s Zach Randall won a Regional title at 178 lbs., but injured a knee and could not participate at State. Teammate Brian Neeley who had failed to qualify at 136 lbs. (yes 42 lbs. less), replaced Randall and came through with a fall and 10-2 major decision win to advance to the finals. He lost in the finals to OU recruit Brett Pennington from Sand Springs, but still earned a very improbable 2nd place finish for the Pirates.

That method was replaced when they started wrestling 5th place matches at the Regional Tournament, with the 5th place finisher wrestling at State if a top four finisher was unable to wrestle at State. One example of this came in 2001, when Perry’s Caleb Young finished 5th at the Regional Tournament and thought his season was over. He got a 2nd chance when a spot came open and came through with a 3rd place State Tournament finish.

In 2018, the “wrestle-in” match was added to the State Tournament. This allows the 5th place wrestler from one Regional to wrestle the 4th place wrestler from the other Regional, with the winner then being placed on the State Tournament bracket.

There have been 27 times where a team didn’t win a Regional title, but won the State Championship the next week. John Marshall’s 1968 state championship team came the furthest back as they finished 4th in the Regional Tournament. The list of state championship teams that didn’t win the Regional Tournament are listed below.

Perry – 1955, 1984, 1998
Blackwell – 1957
Tulsa Rogers – 1958
Ponca City – 1960
Tulsa Edison – 1965
John Marshall – 1968
Midwest City – 1972, 2008
Putnam City – 1973
Tulsa Kelley – 1974
Tulsa Washington – 1976
Geary – 1979
Guthrie – 1981
Vinita – 1983
Tulsa Hale – 1985
Edmond – 1988
Carl Albert – 1992
Madill – 1993
Bristow – 1996
Choctaw – 1999 (tied Broken Arrow for State title)
Stillwater – 2014
Collinsville – 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 (tied with Skiatook for State title)

Not surprisingly, Perry leads with 53 Regional titles and has the longest win streak, capturing an amazing 21 straight Regional titles from 1999 to 2019. The Maroons also won 14 straight titles from 1970 to 1983. Tuttle’s recent domination of Class 4A has led to a current streak of 13 straight Regional titles. In 2019, Tuttle smashed records for most points scored (362) and individual champions (12). The 2020 team matched the incredible 12 champions and just squeezed past the scoring record with 364 points (and that with 3X finalists and 2X state champions Garrett Steidley and Dustin Plott out with injuries). In fact, Tuttle holds the top 4 spots and 7 of the Top 10 for most points scored at the Regional Tournament. Tuttle, which didn’t start wrestling until the mid1980s, won their first Regional title in 1990 and have now won a total of 22 Regional titles in the past 31 years.

Class 6A power Broken Arrow has won a total of 17 Regional titles, including 9 titles in the past 11 years. Knowing the size of Broken Arrow today, you might be surprised to know that they won their first Regional Tournament in 1967 competing in Class A. Deer Creek, another 6A school, won a Regional title in 1990 in Class 2A and added a 5A Regional title in 2009.

Listed below are some of the records for the Regional Tournament.

Most Team Championships (Since 1942)

1. Perry – 53
2. Ponca City – 24
3. Tuttle – 22
4. Midwest City – 22
5. Broken Arrow – 17
6. Blackwell – 14
7. Tulsa Webster – 14
8. Hobart – 13
9. El Reno – 12
10. Catoosa – 11
11. Marlow – 11

Most Consecutive Team Championships

1. Perry – 21 (1999 – 2019)
2. Perry – 14 (1970 – 1983)
3. Tuttle – 13 (2008 – 2020)
4. El Reno – 12 (1996 – 2007)
5. Perry – 7 (1960 – 1966)
6. Ponca City – 6 (1950 – 1955)
7. Duncan – 6 (1976 – 1982)
8. Midwest City – 6 (1979 – 1984)
9. Tulsa Webster – 6 (1991 – 1996)
10. Tuttle – 6 (1993 – 1998)
11. Broken Arrow – 6 (2010 – 2015)

Most Team Points

1. Tuttle – 364 (2020)
2. Tuttle – 362 (2019)
3. Tuttle – 332.5 (2018)
4. Tuttle – 331 (2016)
5. Perry – 315 (2009)
6. Tuttle – 309.5 (2017)
7. Tuttle – 305.5 (2015)
8. Broken Arrow – 302.5 (2019)
9. Tuttle – 302 (2011)
10. Perry – 302 (2017)
11. Claremore – 300.5 (2010)

Most Individual Champions

1. Tuttle – 12 (2019)
2. Tuttle – 12 (2020)
3. Perry – 9 (1973 – 12 weights)
4. Tuttle – 9 (2011)
5. Tuttle – 9 (2014)
6. Tuttle – 9 (2016)
7. Hobart – 8 (1967 – 12 weights)
8. Lawton Mac – 8 (1994 -13 weights)
9. El Reno – 8 (1998)
10. Claremore – 8 (2010)
11. Tuttle – 8 (2013)
12. Tuttle – 8 (2015)

The Class 6A record for most individual champions is 7, held by the schools listed below (16 other teams have also crowned 7 Regional champions)

John Marshall – 7 (1963 – 12 weights)
John Marshall – 7 (1964 – 12 weights)
Midwest City – 7 (1981 – 13 weights)
Ponca City – 7 (2009)
Edmond North – 7 (2014)