Sheppard, Scruggs earn state wins
County wrestlers work their way into main brackets with Thursday victories
KHS SOPHOMORE Jaxon Sheppard looks at the offi cial as he tries to pin Kolbe Bargas of Vinita during their 132-pound wrestle-in match at the Class 3A state tournament on Thursday. Sheppard didn’t get the pin, but he did get a 20-15 victory to move into the main bracket. [Photo by Anjelica Newcomer]
Two Kingfisher County wrestlers moved past the wrestle-in stage at the Class 3A state tournament.
Kingfisher’s Jaxon Sheppard earned his first career state victory Thursday at State Fair Arena as he won a high-scoring showdown with Vinita’s Kolbe Bargas.
Sheppard earned a 2015 decision over Bargas.
Also moving on was Hennessey’s Kason Scruggs.
The freshman pinned Laike Barnhart of Pawhuska at 3:54 of their wrestle- in match at 138 pounds.
Those wins placed both wrestlers in the main brackets of their respective weight classes, which began Friday morning.
Once there, both wrestlers were sent into the consolation side with quarterfi nal losses.
Sheppard lost via technical fall to Marlow’s Tommy Miller.
Miller is the tournament’s top seed at 132 pounds as he’s undefeated on the season and won the west regional the previous week.
The loss pitted Sheppard against Oklahoma Christian School’s Jace Lillie in the consolation round (after press time of this edition).
Lillie defeated Sheppard 4-1 in sudden victory overtime during the previous weekend’s regional tournament.
Scruggs was paired up with Vinita’s Luke Prince in the quarterfinal round.
Prince, who won the east regional, pinned Scruggs at 2:33.
Scruggs was set to face Salina’s Gage Pruitt in the consolation rounds later Friday.
( Ed. note: Cashion’s Carlos Martinez competed in the 165-pound weight class and Matthew Stockton at heavyweight at the state tournament. Those quarterfinal matches weren’t completed before press time of this edition.)
Kingfisher’s only other qualifying wrestlers was downed in his wrestle-in match.
Senior Jose Santoyo, making his first state appearance, lost a 7-6 decision to Elijah Childress of Victory Christian.
Also losing in the wrestle- in round was Cashion 113-pounder Cale Browning.
He was pinned at 1:19 of his match with Pawhuska’s Corlin Cass.
Those losses eliminated those two from the tournament.