Tiger Classic Provides Strong Competition

— Area wrestling coaches are excited about today’s Bentonville Tiger Classic. It should give them a good glimpse of what the Class 6A/7A state tournament could look like in about a month.

Today’s Ticket

Bentonville Tiger Classic

WHERE:Tiger Arena

WHEN: 9:30 a.m.

NOTABLE: Many of the top wrestlers in the state will be in action including Fayetteville’s Austin Hubble (defending 6A/7A state champion at 220 pounds), Springdale High’s Joey Adams (defending 6A/7A state champion at 106), Rogers Heritage’s Logan Evans (defending 6A/7A state champion at 138), Little Rock Central’s Tyler Mann (defending 6A/7A state champion at 152), Bentonville’s Aaron Grigsby (28-4) and Jeff Bizzle (26-3), both are unbeaten against instate competition, Rogers High’s Nick Mulcahy (29-0) and Edwin Santos (26-1).

“We should see four of the top six teams in the state there this weekend,” Rogers High coach Ken Simmons said. “This one should definitely be a big one with Fayetteville, Bentonville and ourselves being three of the better teams in the state.”

Springdale Har-Ber, the defending 6A/7A state champions, lead an impressive field, including the top four finishers in last year’s 6A/7A state tournament. At least four defending individual state champions will compete.

Bentonville assistant coach Steve Grigsby said there should be outstanding competition.

“There will be a lot of high-level matches,” Grigsby said. “There won’t be a weight class this weekend that won’t have at least a couple state medalists at this tournament.”

The heavyweight division should be one of the better weight classes with last year’s state runnerup Ty Harrison of Har-Ber, Fayetteville’s Austin Hubble, who is the defending 6A/7A state champion at 220 pounds and Bentonville’s Jared Conover, who finished fifth.

Conover (21-3) already has two wins over Harrison this season.

Rogers High’s Nick Mulcahy (29-0) is unbeaten this season at 152, while Edwin Santos has dropped to 182 and has lost only one match.

Bentonville junior Aaron Grigsby finished third at state meet at 120 and is unbeaten against in-state competition. Teammate Kyson Larsen is also strong at 182, but has a loss to Santos earlier this season. Jeff Bizzle of Bentonville (26-3) is also unbeaten against Arkansas opponents.

Rogers Heritage coach Doug Freeman said this weekend will be important for seedings and the upcoming Big West Tournament.

“It’s more like a step on the ladder,” Freeman said. “We’ll see how we flesh out against most of the best teams in the state.”

Fayetteville and Bentonville have been battling illness the past couple of weeks and Fayetteville coach Steve Adair will likely be without several starters in the lineup.

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