Wrestling: Springdale Har-Ber looks to dethrone Bentonville High

LITTLE ROCK -- Springdale Har-Ber will be looking for a clean sweep this weekend and its third Class 6A-7A state wrestling title.

The Wildcats have already claimed the 6A-7A Dual State title two weeks ago, then won the Big West Conference championship last weekend. Har-Ber coach Eric Nolan said his team is excited about the challenge of the state tournament.

"I feel like we've been challenged and put in tough situations against wrestlers from out of state and Arkansas," Nolan said. "We're just ready to have a good time and see what happens when the dust settles."

Action begins at 10 a.m. today at the Jack Stephens Center on the University of Arkansas-Little Rock campus. Semifinals will be Saturday morning beginning at 9 and the finals will start at 3:30 p.m.

Har-Ber has 10 wrestlers seeded and five are top seeds in their respective weight classes.

Nolan said his team has come together and worked with a positive attitude and appears ready to be in a position to compete for a state team title.

"We've had a great year and a lot of fun as a team," said Nolan, whose team finished second a year ago to Bentonville. "We've stayed positive and focused and I think our kids believe we can do it. We've shifted the focus of having the negative pressure with trying to win. That's probably where we were a little too much last year."

Nolan said even a couple of his unseeded wrestlers could do some damage similar to Max Salinas, who got fourth a year ago despite coming in unseeded.

"We've got a couple guys like Alex Wilson at 152 and Wes Rolfe, who have beaten or wrestled really well with seeded kids," Nolan said.

Area coaches agree that Har-Ber and Bentonville, the defending champions, are definitely the teams to beat this weekend.

"I think Har-Ber's probably the front-runner," Rogers Heritage coach Doug Freeman said. "Har-Ber won conference and Dual State. I know Bentonville was down a couple kids and they've done some moving. I still think they have to prove they are ahead of Har-Ber now."

But Bentonville and Har-Ber by far one and two. It's going to be hard for anybody to break through."

If Freeman is right, that will mean the West will continue its dominance in the team race. West teams have won seven of the first nine 6A-7A state titles. Bentonville and Har-Ber have combined for five of those. In addition, wrestlers from the 6A-7A West garnered all 14 No. 1 seeds.

Bentonville coach James Rappe opted to rest a couple of wrestlers the last two weeks, specifically defending state champion Cash Jones. But the Tigers are ready to try to defend their title, Rappe said.

"I think we're in as good a position as we could possibly to be in," Rappe said. "We had some kids banged up and we let them heal and rest up to get into this position. I think some other teams have been in similar situations.

"But I think we've put ourselves in a good position as possible to try and defend our state championship. There are some really good teams to compete against and at the end of the day that's why we're doing it, trying to repeat as state champions."

Bentonville will need to buck a recent trend to win the title since the team that has won the Dual State title has also come back two weeks later to win the state tournament in each of the last three years. The Tigers have a dozen wrestlers seeded, including Jones (170), Obi Smith (126) and Zane Sims (138) as top seeds.

Bentonville West coach Aaron Wise believes his team could spoil the idea of a two-team race for the title. The Wolverines have nine wrestlers seeded, including two top seeds and two No. 2 seeds.

"I feel like in the first five weight classes, we've got five guys who have a good chance to be in the finals," Wise said. "Some of them have tougher roads than others."

West sophomore Zach Ireland is the defending champion at 106 but drew the No. 3 seed. However, Wise pointed out he was also the No. 3 seed last year, too.

Sports on 02/16/2018