Bentonville’s wrestlers fell on the wrong end of the numbers game Saturday afternoon during the Class 6A-7A State Tournament.
The Tigers finished with four individual state champions — more than any other team — were outnumbered by Little Rock Catholic when it came to medalists. The Rockets had nine to Bentonville’s seven, and that lead to the Class 6A-7A state title by a 255.5-229 margin.
“It was a lot closer than it seemed,” Bentonville coach Bill Desler said. “Had two of our guys won matches against Catholic’s wrestlers when they met head-to-head, we would have won the title.”
The trio of Jeff Bizzle, Aaron Grigsby and Ryan Flynn became two-time state champions in different weight classes, while Jared Conover won the heavyweight title after a third-place finish last year. Bizzle, closed out his season with a 59-1 mark after he won the 145-pound weight class, while Grigsby (56-1) and Flynn (40-12) won the 126- and 132-pound weight classes, respectively.
Two other Tigers — Xavier Domineack at 220 and Luke Brandon at 120 — finished second in their division, while Derian Fernandez rounded out the medalists with a sixth-place finish at 113 pounds.
“Everybody did what was expected,” Desler said. “I like the fact that Jared won the heavyweight championship after the Little Rock coaches said he and Xavier shouldn’t have been seeded.
“I wasn’t sure Luke was going to get that high because he had a tough match against (Springdale Har-Ber’s) Christian Arredondo in the semifinals, but he won that and wrestled well in the final match, losing only 4-2. Ryan was also able to go in there and beat some wrestlers that had beaten them before.”
— Henry Apple • [email protected]
JENNINGS WINS STATE TITLE
Kimble Jennings returned home a state champion after winning the 113-pound division at the Class 6A-7A State Tournament.
Jennings placed first and earned 32 points for the Wildcats after winning a 1-0 decision over Austin Dye of Cabot. Jennings, a sophomore, finished 36-12 on the year.
“Kimble had a great year,” Har-Ber coach Nika West said. “He won his last 24 matches after starting 12-12 while wrestling at 120 (pounds).”
Har-Ber finished third overall behind Little Rock Catholic and Bentonville in the 7A/6A classification. That was an improvement over last year when Wildcats finished seventh in the team competition.
“Our guys battled all weekend long,” West said. “Overall, it was our best meet and I was encouraged by how they competed.”
Douglas Matthews (182 pounds) finished as the state runner-up in the individual competition while Cristian Arrendondo (120) and Coltin Morgan (138) placed third. Mathews finished 50-9 as a senior.
“Douglas displayed a great work ethic and he never had a losing season in four years on varsity,” West said. “He’s one of the four seniors we’re losing, but I’m very encouraged about what we have coming back. Ten of our 14 wrestlers medaled (top six) this year and seven of those are coming back.”
— RICK FIRES • @NWARICK
MOUNTIES LOOK AHEAD
Rogers High ended the wrestling season with another strong finish as the Mounties finished in sixth place at the Class 6A-7A State Tournament. The Mounties were second in 2013 and coach Ken Simmons said the team will be able to build off this year’s success.
Senior Gio Soto lost in the championship match at 195 to finish the year at 26-1. Senior Tim Blickle (152) and Garrett Hudson (160) both recorded third-place finishes. Blickle ended the year with a 45-2 record while Hudson finishes the year at 27-15.
Heath Henman (132) and Madison Montgomery (138) both took home fourth-place trophies. Henman finished the year with a 31-8 record while Montgomery was 24-7
“We finished about where we deserved to finish,” Simmons said. “Montgomery and Hudson finished above their seeds, which is a good thing. Gio met a really good kid in the finals, but he had a good tournament. The other kid was just a little bit better athletically than Gio.
“We had been struggling a bit, but we had some kids that won under a little bit of pressure. We were young.”
— PAUL NIELSEN • @NWAPAULN
BULLDOGS PLACE EIGHTH AT STATE
For the second year in a row, Fayetteville posted an eighth-place overall finished at the 6A-7A State Tournament.
While eighth place is no team’s ultimate goal, for a Fayetteville group faced with so much roster overhaul to begin the year it might have to be considered quite a feat.The Bulldogs placed five wrestlers in top six positions last year, but had to rely on just three wrestlers who placed at state yesterday for a bulk of their 115 team points.
Junior Jaxson Nolen continued to excel as not only Fayetteville’s top wrestler, but in the state on Saturday with a championship in the 152-pound division. Nolen won four consecutive matches by fall before defeating Springdale’s Benny Schaeffer with a 13-10 decision in the finals.
Junior Dane Shields also represented Fayetteville quite well Saturday, finishing runner-up in the 160-pound weight class. Shields won matches over Anthony Charles of North Little Rock, Trenton Jones of Bentonville and Garrett Hudson of Rogers before falling to undefeated Tyler Mann of Little Rock Central in the 16- championship round.
The Bulldogs also got a fourth place from senior Jay Branch in the 113 division.
— VERNON TARVER • @NWAVERNON
WAR EAGLES FINISH STRONG
Rogers Heritage wrestling coach Doug Freeman walked away from the Class 6A-7A state tournament with a smile on his face.
His War Eagles finished a solid fourth out of 22 teams — much better than the 13th-place effort a year ago.
“Oh yeah, we looked like a totally different team,” Freeman said. “Last year was absolutely a total disappointment. We’re back where we kinda want to be. I was really pleased with the kids.”
Heritage finished with seven medalists led by Caleb Royal (126), Gaven Long (132) and Shae Chafin (145) each with state runner-up finishes. Ramsey Gonzalez (170) took third, while Colton Stewart (160) and Jordan Vazquez (182) each finished fourth and David Zamora (120) was fifth.
Royal and Chafin were both No. 2 seeds coming in, but Long, a sophomore, was seeded third and knocked off the No. 2 seed in the semifinals.
“Gaven pinning that kid in the third period was big in the semifinals,” Freeman said. “He was winning 6-3 against Flynn in the finals and controlling the match when all of a sudden he got pinned. That was kind of disappointing he didn’t win the whole thing.”
The future’s also bright for the War Eagles as five of those seven medalists return next season.
“We should be really solid with 12 or 13 guys back that can do a lot,” Freeman said. “I really like the direction we’re headed. We’ve just got to keep going.”
— PAUL BOYD • @NWAPAULB
TRIO OF BULLDOGS HAVE STANDOUT FINISHES
Springdale High coach Jamie Stallings considered moving Benny Schaeffer up or down a weight class for the 6A-7A State Tournament.
Leaving Schaeffer in the 152-pound weight class turned out to be a good decision. The senior wrapped up his high school career with an impressive second-place finish, winning the first two periods of his competitive championship match against Fayetteville’s Jaxson Nolen.
“I felt like we were in control most of the match,” Stallings said. “The finals match was the best Benny’s ever wrestled. He was great. He was wonderful. I’m crushed because we lost, but I told him before and after, ‘If you leave everything out there, you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.’ And that’s what he did. Super proud of that kid.”
Schaeffer wasn’t the only standout performer Saturday for a Springdale team without injured top wrestlers Joey Adams and Stevie Ponce. Senior heavyweight David Garcia pinned Jonesboro’s Austin Coburn in the second period to win the third-place match.
“I expected him to be in the match,” Stalling said. “I didn’t expect him to be as dominant against that kid as he was. He wrestled well. I was very pleased with him.”
And sophomore Tre Ponce made an impressive run in the 106-pound division, advancing to the semifinals and finishing fourth.
“This was the best Tre’s ever wrestled by far,” Stallings said. “We beat a couple kids that had been beating us. We beat the two seed. And then the final match went into overtime. One of the best matches of the night. … We’re leaving here heads held high,” Stallings said. “This is far and away the best we’ve wrestled all year.”
— JIMMY CARTER • @NWAJIMMY