Mark Kirk
The third week of open tournaments saw great action at Union, Southmoore, Midwest City, and Guthrie. A number of high school wrestlers also competed in collegiate open tournaments in Nebraska and Missouri. The regular season opened for a few schools as the ACAC Athletic Conference Tournament took place at U.S. Grant.
Just for the record, open preseason tournaments are exactly that; they are preseason tournaments to give the wrestlers some good mat time and prepare them for the regular season. Open Tournament results are not used for seeding purposes and everyone starts the season with a 0-0 record.
For the second weekend in a row, Oklahoma high school wrestlers turned in incredible performances in collegiate open tournaments. At the Younes Hospitality Open, Layton Schneider, Joseph Jeter, and Oscar Williams were all crowned tournament champions, with Kody Routledge and Ricky Thomas placing 3rd, Hunter Hollingsworth placing 4th and Talon McCollom placing 6th. At the Missouri Valley Women’s Open Tournament, Bella Williams earned a 4th place finish.
Kody Routledge and Hunter Hollingsworth entered the Elite Division of the tournament and both came through with top four finishes. Routledge had five wins on the day, including a tech fall and two maj. dec. on his way to a 3rd place finish, while Hollingsworth placed 4th with three maj. dec. wins.
In all, the wrestlers went an impressive 49-15 with 30 bonus point wins, including 11 falls and 12 tech falls. Schneider and Jeter both went 6-0 with all bonus point wins. Schneider had four falls and two tech falls to win the 149 lb. title. Jeter had three falls, two tech falls and a maj. dec. win to claim the 157 lb. title. Oscar Williams went 5-0 with one tech fall to win the 285. lb. title. Sister, Bella Williams had four tech falls and a big win over University of Iowa’s highly regarded Lilly Luft to earn a 4th place finish at 130 lbs.
YOUNES HOSPITALITY OPEN – drew 48 colleges and universities with 728 wrestlers (215 in Elite Division and 513 in Amateur Division)
Elite Division (College juniors and seniors)
157 Kody Routledge – 3rd Place, 5-1 with 1 tech fall and 2 maj. dec.
141 Hunter Hollingsworth – 4th Place, 3-2 with 3 maj. dec.
Amateur Division (College freshmen and sophomores)
149 Layton Schneider – 1st Place, 6-0 with 4 falls and 2 tech falls
157 Joseph Jeter – 1st Place, 6-0 with 3 falls, 2 tech falls and 1 maj. dec.
285 Oscar Williams – 1st Place, 5-0 with 1 tech fall
285 Ricky Thomas – 3rd Place, 7-1 with 3 falls and 1 maj. dec.
184 Talon McCollom – 6th Place, 3-1 before injury default out of tournament
125 Sawyer Hackbarth, 0-2
133 Hudson Hackbarth, 3-2 with 1 fall and 1 tech fall
133 Max McDaniel, 3-2
174 Cole Olguin, 2-2 with 1 tech fall
MISSOURI VALLEY WOMEN’S OPEN – drew 40 colleges and universities with 461 wrestlers
130 Bella Williams – 4th Place, 6-2 with 4 tech falls…
