Youngwolfe, Swan to wrestle at state
Brycen Swan and Levi Youngwolfe will represent the Pawhuska Huskies at the Oklahoma High School Wrestling Championships being held Friday and Saturday at State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City.
The small-yet-dynamic PHS sophomore duo qualified for the tournament with medal-winning performances last weekend at the 3A East Regional in Sperry.
This will be the second straight state tourney appearance for Youngwolfe, who was this year’s Regional runnerup at 120 pounds after finishing second in the 113-pound classification last season. Youngwolfe compiled a 23-4 record despite missing nearly half of the PHS matches due to injuries.
Swan will take a record of 32-8 into the state event. The Huskies’ 132-pound entry is going to face top-seeded Dylan Lucas — an undefeated (39-0) senior from Plainview, for his opening match of the tourney. In the second round, Swan will go against either Chandler junior Jake Braswell (30-9) or Blackwell junior Justice Circle (35-7).
Youngwolfe is to face fellow sophomore Ethan Allen (29-8) of Geary-Watonga in Thursday’s opening round. A victory advances the Huskie 120-pounder to a second-round match versus the winner between defending 3A champion Zach Atencio, a Plainview junior with a 37-4 record, or Louden Akin (26-7) of Sperry. In last Friday’s Regional semifinal, Youngwolfe pinned the Sperry wrestler just before the first period ended. He had posted a pair of technical falls (by scores of 16-0 and 16-1) in his early bouts.
Among the other 120-pound qualifiers is Heritage Hall sophomore Kaden Gfeller (33-0), who won the East Regional. Gfeller will meet Chandler junior Tyce Smith (28-12) in round one, which also will have Blackwell sophomore Blake Johnson (35-8) going against Madill junior Tyler Ramirez (25-6)
Swan carries a season record of 32-8 to the event. He will be facing the top-seed at 132 pounds — undefeated (39-0) Plainview senior Dylan Lucas — for his first match of the state championships. For a second-round foe, Swan is to be up against either Jake Braswell, a 30-9 Chandler junior or Blackwell junior Justice Circle (35-7). In Friday’s semifinals at Sperry, Swan lost a close 5-2 decision to Circle.
Other 132-pound bouts will include senior defending state champion Noah Nida of Perry (40-8) versus Davis junior Glenn Stodart (8-2), and Colton Denney, a 19-3 freshman from Heritage Hall freshman against Madill senior Rio Zamora, who is 28-4. Swan won by falls in his first two matches at Sperry. He also notched a 12-3 major decision over Adam West in the consolation semifinals before dropping a decision to Denney in third/fourth-place match.
State championship weigh-ins begin at 8 a.m. Friday. First-round matches in Classes 3A through 6A are to start at 10:30 a.m. and run until mid-afternoon. The second Friday session starts with consolation matches at 5 p.m. and continues with championship semifinals at 7:15 p.m. On Saturday, consolation semis get under way at 10:30 a.m. and the consolation finals get going around 12:45 p.m. Opening ceremonies at for the championship finals start at 5 p.m. Saturday, with the matches set to begin at 5:45 p.m.
The remainder of head coach Brian Edwards’ PHS mat lineup for the Regional included sophomore Daniel Nightengale at 113 pounds, freshman Dalton Lough at 138, sophomore 145-pounder Jonathan Moody, sophomore Caleb Bruce at 152, 160-pound junior Mathew Taft, senior Jayden Higgins at 170 pounds, 220-pound freshman Keinan Cheves snd 285-pound senior Dakota Jester.
Taft wrestled to within a victory of qualifying for state. Moody and Jester posted two wins following an opening-round defeats.
“Things just didn’t quite fall right for Dakota and a few of the others,” Edwards said. “But I think several of the guys learned quite a bit that will help them be better next season.”
Also last weekend, sophomores Warren Graves and Logan Trammell competed at the state tournament in Tulsa after qualifying the previous weekend in Tahlequah, where Graves placed second at 170 pounds and Trammell was third in the 162-pound division.