Rogers Heritage and Gentry carried both state wrestling titles back to Northwest Arkansas a year ago, and looking at the seedings for this weekend, it seems like the titles could remain in the area.
Fayetteville rolled to the 7A-West Conference Tournament title last weekend and four of its wrestlers earned top seeds in the Class 6A-7A division. Gentry is in line to possibly repeat in the 1A-5A division as the Arkansas State High School Wrestling Championships begin today in the Stephens Center on the campus of the University Arkansas-Little Rock.
Action begins at 1 p.m. today, then finishes Saturday with the championship round beginning at 3:30 p.m.
Fayetteville coach Trey Selmon said his wrestlers were proud of winning the conference title, but he reminded them they aren’t finished.
“That’s one of our goals,” Selmon said. “You can tell they’re a little on edge, but ready to get after it.”
When asked about the seedings, Selmon said those things really don’t matter.
“That means nothing,” Selmon said. “It sounds good going in, but shoot, you’ve still got to wrestle. There are several capable teams. We’ve got to have all 14 of our guys wrestle to the best of their ability and then we’ll be right in the mix.”
Devin Bowers (215 pounds), Cameron Baker (152), Jake Anderson (171) and Giovanni Negrete (285) all earned top seeds for Fayetteville. Baker was the state runner-up a year ago at 152.
Rogers Heritage coach Doug Freeman expects his team to be among the top four teams, but will need better performances from more wrestlers in order to have a chance for the War Eagles to defend their title.
“When you put yourself in the top three or four, you’re in the game,” Freeman said. “We’ve had some guys improve at the end of the year. (Lucas) Raleigh has improved a lot in the last few weeks and Bucky (Willett) has lost a lot of close matches.
“We had three weight classes we didn’t win a match at conference and we don’t have a (103) pounder,” Freeman said. “Our nine other kids all medaled. We need to correct that.”
Gentry coach Alonzo Pettigrew said his team has some confidence coming into the state tournament.
“We feel pretty good,” Pettigrew said. “We didn’t score a point in four weight classes last year and I’d be surprised if that happens this time.”
Weekend Ticket
Arkansas State Wrestling Tournament
WHEN: Today-Saturday
WHERE: Stephens Center, University of Arkansas-Little Rock
NOTABLE: Rogers Heritage is the defending Class 6A-7A state champion, while Gentry is the defending champion in the 1A-5A division. ... Four Fayetteville wrestlers earned top seeds, including defending 6A-7A champion Devin Bowers at 215 pounds, while Rogers Heritage has two wrestlers with No. 1 seeds. ... Gentry’s Kolby Rankin, the defending 1A-5A champion at 140, is seeded second at 152.