High school wrestling notebook: Wagoner and Vinita should be anchors in 4A
BY JOSH HALEY World Correspondent
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
2/13/13 at 3:09 AM
The end result for Vinita and Wagoner at last weekend's dual state championship wasn't exactly a storybook ending, but the bigger picture is what the two teams accomplished this season and what the future may hold. Vinita and Wagoner met in the semifinals, a rematch of a five-point regular season win by Vinita.
Vinita refused to budge once again, defeating Wagoner 33-27 before falling to Tuttle, which has won four straight dual state championships.
High school wrestling squads are more likely to stay strong than fall on hard times: There has been a repeat dual state champion in either Class 3A or 4A every year since 1998. The strong groups that Wagoner and Vinita had this year should develop younger wrestlers to carry on the tradition.
Coweta proves tough in close matches: For anyone unfamiliar with the amount of strategy involved in dual wrestling, just ask Coweta coach Jake Parker.
In its district quad, Coweta managed to win a tight match against last year's qualifier Skiatook despite forfeiting multiple matches.
The opening round of last weekend's dual state tournament had Coweta in another uphill battle, with the Tigers knowing they would have to forfeit multiple matches because of a lack of wrestlers.
"When we won the coin toss, we knew we had a shot," said Parker.
The coin toss, in this case, determined that Altus would have to put its wrestler out first at the even-numbered matches, meaning Coweta could strategically choose wrestlers at each weight based on who Altus put in its lineup.
Parker and his staff made the right calls. Despite forfeiting four matches, thus giving up 24 points, the Tigers won the dual 36-30.
