Marlow, Elgin begin drives toward State mat titles

OKLAHOMA CITY — Long-time rivals Marlow and Blackwell were locked in a tight battle atop the Class 3A standings as the State Wrestling Tournament began Thursday at the State Fairgrounds Arena.

Both the long-time mat powers picked up a big chunk of bonus points with Blackwell owning a 36-33.5 lead after the quarterfinals.

The 3A and 4A teams along with 5A girls hit the mats this morning for the key semifinals when a more clearer picture of the title race should emerge.

The Outlaws advanced Tommy Miller at 113, Marcus Williams at 120, Keller Kizarr 132, Brantz Bateman at 144, Cade Gilbert at 157, and Lawson Knox all via falls while Jaxson Murray at 126 won by decision and Brock Smith at 215 advanced on a technical fall.

In 4A boys, Cache advanced Taii Walsh at 120, and Logan Crawford at 132 into this morning’s semifinals in that class.

On the girls side for the Bulldogs, Kaitlyn Patterson advanced on a fall at 100, Laurel Hill won a 3-2 decision at 105, CJ Landry advanced with a fall at 110, Victorya Cox advanced on a 3-0 decision at 115, and Zoe Bennett won by fall at 140. Those five can clinch a medal with a semifinal win this morning.

As expected, Elgin boys were making solid progress in the 5A boys brackets as they advanced six wrestlers into the semifinals this afternoon at 2:30 p.m.

At 106 Talon Tahdooahnippah advanced with a fall, at 113 Hunter Jackson also advanced via fall, while Brice Martin won by 1 wild 13-11 decision at 120.

At 190 Colyn Donnelly advanced with a fall, at 215 Ritson Meyer earned a 17-2 tech fall and Jace Williams advanced at 285 with a fall.

Chickasha was leading Class 5A with 22 points, just .5 ahead of Elgin.

“I really think it will come down to Chickasha and us,” Elgin coach Cody Rowell said Wednesday. “Del City really wrestled well in that East Regional and they kinda hit Coweta at some weights. We just have to wrestle well and do our own jobs. We’ve had a great week of practice and are ready.”