Cache girls claim State mat runner-up trophy

Often new athletic programs take years to become established and chase titles but Cache’s girls wrestling program showed it only takes a few hard-working athletes to build a program in three short years.

Cache took seven girls to the State Wrestling Tournament last week and five of them placed, shoving the Bulldogs into the spotlight as they claimed the runner-up trophy in Class 5A.

“To go up there and get three runners-up and two other placers is pretty amazing,” Cache coach Jimbo Smith said. “Little Axe had nine wrestlers and that was the most anyone qualified, so to compete for the title showed how well our girls wrestled.”

In the end Little Ax won the title with 94 points with Cache taking home the runner-up trophy with 76 points.

There were several key moments for the Bulldogs but one of the big ones was CJ Landry at 110 pounds.

“CJ was fifth at the regional and had to wrestle a pig-tail match to even get in the bracket,” Smith said. “For her to go all the way through to the finals was a big deal. What she accomplished was pretty amazing.”

Landry did lose by fall in the finals to Kelcie Avallone of Pawhuska but she got a good chunk of Cache’s points.

Cache’s other two runners-up were freshman Kaitlyn Patterson at 100 and Victorya Cox at 115.

Patterson was beaten by Poteau’s Ashley Johnson by fall in 1:10 while Cox lost by fall to Dru Turner of Hinton in 1:38. While they didn’t win gold medals they both picked up big points for the Bulldogs.

Another important weight was 130 pounds where Shiann Famero lost in the first round but won two matches on falls to get to the third-place match where she lost to Millie Bradley of Tuttle by fall in 2:42.

Zoe Bennett finished with a bronze medal by pinning her Poteau opponent in 2:55.

The other two Cache qualifiers were Laurel Hill at 105 and Zailea Rodriguez at 156.

Smith said he was proud of all his girls on the team for putting their program on the map.

“I overheard one of the women at one of the scoring tables say, ‘I didn’t know Cache was a wrestling power,” Smith said. “That made me feel good knowing what we have done in the course of just three seasons.

“When people think of wrestling powers they think of Tuttle, Perry and some of those guys so to have our young girls team changing that culture here in Cache should give our school a good deal of pride.”

Smith sees huge growth coming in the next few years.

“I think we are going to see girls wrestling take off from here,” he said. “It is already the fastest-growing sport in high school and I only see it growing more in the next few years.”

Smith and Elgin coach Cody Rowell have both said they hope the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association will separate the girls and boys State Tournaments to put the spotlight on both programs.

“I can see that happening pretty quick; it’s just something the OSSAA needs to do,” Smith said. “I think our success will only grow our program more before next season.”

Smith said he had plenty of help getting his boys and girls teams ready for State.

“Kelsey Watson is my assistant for the girls and Nathan Cox is a volunteer coach for us; he’s Victorya’s dad,” Smith said. “Charles Fox is our youth coach and Les and Landon Abbott also help with our program.”

And he gave his boys a thank you for their part.

“The girls and boys work out together, both with conditioning and learning technique,” he said. “Going against the boys has helped all of these girls really improve.”

Other area girls place

There were some other area girls who place, including Marlow’s Aleah Chase who won the gold at 170 pounds with a fall over Audrey Bolton.

Elgin had a pair of runners-up in Symphony Veloz at 170 and Abby Anglley at 190. Velos lost by fall to Kali Hayden of Tulsa Union while Anglley lost to Putnam City’s Tessalynn Goodner of Putnam City.

Elgin girls competed in Class 6A while Cache and Marlow were in Class 5A since there are just two classes at present but the OSSAA expects to add more over the next few years as more girls get involved.