Area hosts pair of large tournaments

Northwest Arkansas will play host to a pair of large wrestling tournaments over the holidays, one before Christmas and one after.

The Battle for the Belt will take place Friday and Saturday in Fayetteville, while Springdale Har-Ber will host the Diamond State Duals a week later.

Fayetteville coach Nika West said he’s wanted to put together a tournament, which would draw teams from several states and the facilities at Bulldog Gymnasium helped make that possible.

“We’re in a unique situation with the space that’s provided with the three gyms close,” West said. “It allows us to put 10 mats down in three gyms. We’ll have 33 teams, including 14 from out of state. One way I felt we could draw some interest was the belts.

“We presented the outstanding wrestlers each with a belt at our tournament last year and they seemed to love it.”

Bentonville High, the defending Class 6A-7A state champion, headlines the in-state schools, along with out-of-state schools like Willard, Mo., and Sullivan, Okla.

Har-Ber will then host the Diamond State Duals the weekend after Christmas, which also draws strong teams from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.

Bentonville High

The Tigers are off to a solid start this season under new coach Jason Adams.

The defending Class 6A-7A state champions finished third last weekend in a 10-team dual tournament in Claremore, Okla., going 7-2. Zane Sims (5-0) and Liam Neal (6-0) each went undefeated.

“We had several guys wrestle very well,” Adams said.”Zane, there’s not a lot of finesse to his style. He’s on you the whole time and it wears on people.

“We had several who lost only one or two matches. Walker Fox had three losses, but the competition was really tough at 132. Sophomore Tristan Stafford went 7-1 and was great at 106. We didn’t take our 26-pounder since he was a little under the weather. Giving up away six points I thought we did well.”

Bentonville will compete this weekend in Fayetteville, head to a tournament in Baton Rouge after Christmas.

Bentonville West

Charles Easterling won the 113-pound weight class last weekend to help the Wolverines to a fourth-place finish out of 10 teams in Wagoner, Okla.

He went 6-0 in the two-day event, knocking a wrestler from Skiatook twice for the title. Easterling, who was fourth at the Class 6A-7A state tournament a year ago at 106, pinned him during pools Friday. He had a tougher time Saturday but still came away with a major decision.

“Skiatook is one of the top teams in 5A, and that kid was tough,” West coach Aaron Wise said. “Zack Ireland wrestled really well this weekend and finished third coming back off an injury. Brady Stafford is another kid who people don’t know a lot about. He lost to a kid from Checotah on Friday but came back and showed a lot of heart and beat him 3-2 on Saturday.”

Daryl Easterling, who is the defending 6A-7A state champion at 126, likely would have medaled, but West chose to scratch him out of the tournament after a semifinal loss after he was feeling lightheaded, Wise said. He came up with a pair of big in-state wins over Springdale’s Logan Walton and Bentonville’s Walker Fox at 132 two weeks ago in West’s tournament, which was cut short by a winter weather threat.

Van Buren

The Pointers had only one medalist at last year’s state tournament, but they are off to a good start this season.

Van Buren won the Border Brawl in Poteau, Okla., last weekend, after claiming the title in their own dual tournament two weeks ago.

Pointers coach John Petree, who is in his second season at Van Buren, said those victories are firsts for his program. The team medaled in 12 of 14 weight classes in winning the Poteau tournament and currently is 16-2 in duals after the weekend.

Trevor Edelen (18-2) led a group of four Pointers, who won their respective weight class in Poteau. The freshman won at 113, while R.J. Riley won at heavyweight, Jaden Stanley at 132 and Devin Swearingen at 170. Mason Hayes, who finished third in the Class 6A-7A state tournament at 120 last year, lost in the 126 finals at Poteau to Greenwood’s Ty Moose.

“The highest we’ve ever placed at state I believe is 13th,” Petree said. “We just had one state placer last year, but I have a whole lineup that you’ll know you’ve wrestled when you face them. They’re fighters. This group has shown tremendous progress.”

Petree expects his team to be challenged this weekend at the Battle for the Belt in Fayetteville.