Several wrestlers from the region are headed to the Big House this weekend after qualifying for state at Regionals.
From Chandler, Landon Earp was named the 3A West Regional Champ in 113 lbs., while teammate Bryar Dryden placed fourth in 157 lbs., also securing a berth. On the girls’ side, Chandler ranked 11th overall, and all three girls qualified for State, with Lizzy Pryor placing third in 110 lbs., Shailey Penn placing third in 120 lbs. and Brylee Waldman placing fourth in 155 lbs.
From Prague, Samuel Teape placed fourth in 132 lbs.
Lastly, in 4A West Regionals, Ryatt Hernandez placed fourth in 144 lbs., while Tripp Bishop placed fifth in 120 lbs. Both are from McLoud. The girls’ team was named 5A West Regional Champions last week, with eight of their nine girls qualifying for State. Launa Troutt (115 lbs.), Addi Addams (140 lbs.), Carli Sisco (100 lbs.) and Melania Nenaikita (235 lbs.) were all named champions in their weight classes. Yazmin Nevarez (110 lbs) and Laine Walker (130 lbs) were runnersup, with Brenlie Peacock taking third in 125 lbs and Gabby Lozano taking fourth in 120 lbs.
ChandlerBoysWrestling Coach Franklin Ward said he is proud of the guys who qualified and that the team has done well overall for the season. Chandler is a smaller 3A school, and Ward said they’ve wrestled many teams that were above them and still competed.
“So I feel like our, I mean, as a season overall, I feel like we’ve done really well,” he said.
He said the plan for now is to focus on preparing his two wrestlers for State. They’re going to Cushing to work out with Coach Patterson so they have wrestlers at the same weight to work with.
Chandler Girls’ Coach Kallie Jo Petrie said she is proud of her team and that they worked really hard.
Petrie said that the girls have had to get out of their comfort zones a bit, and the last couple of weeks were spent working out some bad habits. The plan for State is to keep what works and remember the bad habits they worked to get rid of.
“Every game plan is a little bit different. Every match is a little bit different. We have a game plan for this girl and a game plan for this girl and that kind of thing. So definitely taking it one match at a time,” she said.
She added that regardless of how they finished regionals, they still made it to the state tournament and are going into it with the mindset that every new match is 0-0.
The Oklahoma High School Wrestling Championships takes place Thursday through Saturday at The State Fairgrounds Arena at the OKC Fairgrounds.