Owls win 5A-3 district dual championship

ELGIN — Elgin’s top-ranked mat team claimed the Class 5A-3 dual title with wins over No. 2 El Reno, Southeast and Woodward, which puts the Owls into the dual state meet next month.

However, the title didn’t come without controversy. 

When the Owls wrestled El Reno on Jan. 12, it appeared the Indians had won the dual 43-33. But later, the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association determined El Reno had used an ineligible wrestler and that particular match was forfeited by El Reno, which gave Elgin the win 39-37.

The district dual meet was scheduled for Jan. 19 in Elgin, but El Reno refused to travel to Elgin, so the Jan. 12 dual and its outcome were used for the district dual meet. Elgin went on to defeat Southeast 84-0 and Woodward did not the make the trip because of illness and injuries, which resulted in a forfeit to Elgin.

“With everything that happened, we’ll try to make the most of it at dual state,” Elgin head coach Cody Rowell said. “Altogether, it was enough to get it done. Southeast got after it, but that was not what I was wanting to do. Our main focus now is to get ready to go and compete in dual state. We want to make the most of our opportunities.”

The dual state meet will be held Feb. 10-11.

Some of Elgin’s wrestlers will compete Saturday in the Big 4 Tournament at Perry, which will have teams ranging from Class 6A to Class 3A. Meanwhile, the girls team will compete in the Chickasha Tournament Jan. 27-28. Elgin will wrestle at Noble on Jan. 31 in its final dual of the season.

Elgin is 8-1 in dual action with its only loss coming to Marlow, which is ranked No. 2 in Class 3A.