Cashion duo make history; HHS sends 1 to state
CASHION WRESTLING’S Carlos Martinez (left) and Matthew Stockton became that program’s first state qualifiers last weekend. [Photo provided]
Cashion’s wrestling program is still in its infancy.
It now has two solid building blocks.
Carlos Martinez and Matthew Stockton made history last weekend when they became Cashion’s first state qualifiers in wrestling.
Stockton was fourth at heavyweight and Martinez took fifth at 157 pounds during the Class 3A west regional in Marlow.
They’ll be the first Cashion wrestlers to don a singlet at the state tournament beginning Thursday at State Fair Arena.
There’s a good chance it won’t even be the last for those two.
Martinez is only a freshman while Stockton is a junior.
The latter certainly earned his way as he won five consecutive matches in the consolation bracket after losing in the second round.
That loss came via a 3-2 decision to Anadarko’s Jasiah Raines, putting him on the brink of elimination. It never happened.
Stockton pinned Chandler’s Preston Sowder at 1:22 and Cordell’s Samuel Lindsey at 3:34 over the next two rounds.
He then defeated Mangum’s Gavin Williams 5-0 before besting Clete Gilbert of Marlow 8-5 to land a spot in the consolation semifinals.
Needing just one more win to secure his spot in state, he got it in the most thrilling fashion by exacting revenge on Gaines in an ultimate tie-breaker.
That put him in state, but also landed him in the third-place match, which also went extra time.
Stockton’s string of victories finally came to an end as Casady’s Ace Hodges beat him in sudden victory.
Martinez also had to win multiple matches with elimination staring him in the face.
He pinned Geary’s Logan Castleberry at 3:25 of their second-round match, but took a 10-0 loss to Marlow’s Cade Gilbert in the quarterfinal.
He bounced back to pin J.J. Schuler of Berryhill in just 20 seconds and then got a sudden victory win against Oklahoma Christian School’s Gwen Mullin.
Hinton’sDakotaDahlenburg was able to pin Martinez at 2:21 of their consolation semfinal, meaning the Wildcat would have to win his fifth-place match to advance.
He did just that by outwrestling Hobart’s Luke Tacker 6-2.
That duo will be joined at state not only by five Kingfisher High School wrestlers, but also one from Hennessey.
Westyn Hopkins wrestled his way to fifth place in the 126-pound bracket.
Hopkins beat Konawa’s Tim Ortiz by pinning him at 1:50 of their first round match.
He was then defeated by Kingfisher’s Jaxon Sheppard with a pin at 5:06 in their quarterfinal. Sheppard went on to win the regional title.
Hopkins came back with two straight wins in the consolation bracket.
He edged Davis’ Hagen Sims 8-7 and pinned Luke Adcock of OCS in 1:12.
That put him in the consolation semifinal where he was pinned at 2:59 by Brycen Rasnic of Hinton.
Needing a win in his final match, Hopkins got it by pinning Newkirk’s Colton Mills at 1:00.