Yellowjackets finish 3rd
Gant Browning named OW at Kingfisher Invitational
KHS SENIOR Gant Browning was named Outstanding Wrestler at the Kingfisher High School Invitational over the weekend. Browning won the 126-pound championship. [Photo provided]
Five Jackets walked off the medal stand with gold to lead Kingfisher to a third-place finish over the weekend.
KHS scored 155.5 points to finish behind Watonga and Edmond Memorial in the revamped Kingfisher High School Invitational.
“We’re trying to get this back up and going,” said KHS wrestling coach Steven Wilson.
The tournament was an annual affair before it was nixed two years ago.
“Hopefully we can get it back to what it was before,” Wilson said.
He’s also in the process of doing that with his team.
Gant Browning is a nice building block in that venture.
The senior was named Outstanding Wrestler after winning the 126-pound title.
That included beating a pair of fellow Kingfisher County competitors en route to the gold.
Browning pinned Cashion’s Cooper McGuire in 1:43 in the semifinals.
The championship pitted him against Westyn Hopkins of Hennessey.
Browning, a three-time state qualifier, needed just 1:40 to earn that title win.
Hopkins helped Hennessey to a third-place finish with 73.5 points.
He was the lone Eagle to reach a championship match, but Adin Dickens was third at 150, Eric Rojo third at heavyweight and Zack Tillman fourth at 175. McGuire went on to take fourth at 126 for Cashion, which notched 33 points in the tournament.
The Wildcats’ Jacob Reese was their top placer as he was third at 190 pounds.
Joining Browning in winning for Kingfisher were Braden Kochenower at 138 pounds, Damien Haynes at 144, Mason Alig at 175 and Robert Barnett at 215.
Barnett beat a teammate Daniel Guerrero - in the gold medal match.
He earned a 7-5 decision after pinning yet another Yellowjacket - Jose Santoyo - in the semifinals.
“That weight class is easily where we have our most depth,” said Wilson.
That was evident as the top four placers were all from Kingfisher.
Santoyo eventually won third over Landon Schroder, who had to default because of injury.
Haynes won his pool, then earned a fall and major decision in his final two matches.
He bested Watonga’s Brayden Cowan 10-2 in the championship bout.
Chase Price was third at 144.
After losing a 10-9 decision to Cowan in the semifi nals, he came back to win his final two matches for the bronze medal.
Kochenower had to take an injury default loss to Enid’s A.J. Milne on the first day of competition.
However, Kochenower needed just 19 seconds to pin Milne in Saturday’s semifinal.
He then pinned Carter Wright of Edmond Memorial in 1:49 to win gold.
Alig didn’t have a single match go past the first period.
He pinned all five foes in 1:41 or less.
That included Watonga’s Tristan Dobbins, a state qualifier last year, in the championship.
Alig pinned Dobbins in both the round-robin portion on Friday and then again in the title bout on Saturday.
Also for KHS, Diego Arreguin was fourth at 150 pounds.
After losing in the semifinals, Arreguin defeated teammate Gabe Jackson in the consolation semifinals before being pinned by Hennessey’s Dickens for third.
Zappa Ellis took fourth at 157.
He also lost in the semifi nals, won his consolation semifinal and then lost the bronze medal bout.
Kingfisher High School Invitational
Watonga 196.5 EdmondMemorial 180 Kingfisher 155.5 Enid 109 Hennessey 73.5 Marlow 67 Casady 63.5 Cashion 33 Clinton 25