OKLAHOMA CITY – Zach White, the favorite at 160-pounds, leads a strong group of five Woodward High School wrestlers into the Class 3A State Tournament today and Saturday at the State Fairgrounds Arena.
White, a junior, is the top seed at this weight and sports a 36-1 record. The Boomers will also have freshman Josh Rosborough at 103 pounds, senior Joey Miller at 119, sophomore Matt White at 125 and Kevin Tapia at heavyweight.
All five have a chance to do well, said Boomer wrestling coach Bobby Cook.
“All five have an opportunity of placing,” Cook said. “We have some tough, tough first round matches.”
White, a state runnerup in Class 4A last season, opens against a freshman in Daniel Gifford from Locust Grove.
“He’s 15-12 and he’s a pinner,” Cook said. “We’ll have to stay in good position.”
White’s likely semifinal opponent is Colten Barnes, a junior from Oologah. Cook said Barnes is probably the best wrestler from the eastern regional but got called on a defensive pin while winning in the finals last week.
In the finals, White could end up in a rematch from the regional with Cushing’s Ethan Simpson. White won 2-0 last week. Another possible contender is Dusty Gehrke from Grove, who won the eastern regional.
Rosborough is in an interesting weight at 103 pounds.
“Josh is wrestling Zane Howell from Madill, who has wrestled a little longer than we have,” Cook said. “The favorite is also on our side of the bracket (undefeated Damien Hopper, a freshman from Grove) and he is tough, I coached him during the summer.
“We’ll have an opportunity to place at that weight and that would be quite an accomplishment for a first-year wrestler.”
At 119, Miller, who medaled in Class 4A as a freshman, has a first round battle with Trey Rhode, 20-12, from Locust Grove.
“His record is only 20-12, but I will say this, the Locust Grove kids wrestle the toughest schedule in the state of Oklahoma,” Cook said. “Probably four or five of his losses have been to guys who have been in the state finals.”
While matched up tough early, Cook said Miller’s bracket is still pretty favorable.
“I really think Joey has an opportunity to go to the finals,” he said. “We’ll have a kid from Fort Gibson in the semifinals and he’s beatable. We’ll be in some 4-3, 5-4 type matches all the way to the finals.”
Jared Patterson, a two-time state champion from Cushing is 42-0 and a big favorite to win the weight class. Patterson pinned Miller in the regional.
At 125 pounds, Matt White was third in the regional, but took the option of the fourth place slot where he will face Robbie Nunez of Fort Gibson, who is 40-1.
The move puts White on the bracket opposite top seed Jared Wynn of Blackwell and into a possible semifinal rematch with Garrett Evans of Cushing who beat him on a late takedown in the regional.
Nunez, though, is up first.
“The thing with him is I don’t think they (Fort Gibson) wrestle the type of schedule we wrestle,” Cook said. “Even though it’s tough right out of the gate we fully expect to win that match.”
Cook said Tapia is in a heavyweight division where most every match could go either way.
“It’s probably the most intriguing weight class in the state tournament,” Cook said. “Zack Allison from Blackwell is the best guy on paper and has beaten everyone there, but everyone in the other seven can be second, third or fourth, it just depend son who shows up Friday and Saturday.”
Tapia opens with Kris Powell from Inola, who is 24-2.
“He’s a dangerous type wrestler, we’ll have to stay in good position and keep the pressure on him. I really think we can get by him.”
A possible semifinal opponent is R. J. Bartley from Grove, who is 37-3.
The Boomers could also be a factor in the team race, Cook said.
“I really think Cushing is probably going to run away with the tournament, but two through ten there will be just a couple of points separating all of us,” Cook said. “There’s so much parity in Class 3A.
“It’s like I told the kids, there’s really no pressure this week, the pressure was last week. Once you get to this tournament it doesn’t matter if you’re 5-30, you can still be a state champion.
“You’re three wins away from being a state champion and a lot of times in the deeper weights it is just whoever gets hot. I think we’ll come out guns a blazin’ this weekend.”
Notes: The Boomers traveled to Perry on Wednesday to work out with the Perry High School wrestlers and will work out there again on Thursday before going to the state tournament. This is the second year in a row the Boomers have qualified five wrestlers for state. Zach White and Matt White are the only returning qualifiers, but Joey Miller qualified as a freshman in 2005. Wrestling action starts today at 10:30 a.m. and again at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. The championship round is Saturday night.
