Cards repeat as mat champs
BY MIKE MOGUIN World Correspondent
Sunday, February 26, 2012
2/26/12 at 6:20 AM
OKLAHOMA CITY - Collinsville crowned four state champions and earned the Class 5A wrestling championship Saturday at State Fair Arena.
Davion Jeffries (106 pounds), Gary Wayne Harding (126), Dylan Helm (132) and Will Steltzlen (138) won state championships for the Cardinals, who captured their second straight title with 124 points. Altus was a distant second at 79.
Deer Creek finished in third place with 77 points, Guthrie was fourth with 71 and Claremore came in fifth with 69.
Claremore won two individual state championships.
Calib Freeman became a four-time state champion with a 3-2 win over Miami's Eli Hale.
At 113 pounds, Gunner Woodburn pinned Collinsville's Christian Mood in 3:34.
"Last year we got our very first team state championship ever," Collinsville coach Ruston Harding said.
"And this year is our second, and what's great about it is we didn't have a senior in the finals. It's a great thing to know that we got all our kids coming back."
Jeffries won 3-0 over Duncan's Markwae Sanders. An escape and a takedown in the second period was all he needed.
"He is a freshman who has an unbelievable record this year," Ruston Harding said. "He has only lost one match and has pretty much dominated everybody he has wrestled. He helped get the ball rolling."
Collinsville's other three first-place winners became two-time state champions with their wins.
Gary Wayne Harding, son of the coach, beat East Central's Mark Carter, 4-2. Helm scored a pin on Western Heights' Aaron Guery in 1:44, and Steltzen took a 10-3 decision over Jazer Duran of Oklahoma City Southeast.
"We had our three state champions from last year, and they all did it again. It's a great feeling," Ruston Harding said.
