Pound for pound

Heritage Hall senior RJ Mosley is seeking his third straight state title. If not for being a pound overweight as a freshman, it might have been four.

RJ Mosley has shed that one pound.

After a dominant weekend at the Class 4A West regionals in which Mosley finished first at 152 pounds for Heritage Hall, the senior is eyeing his third straight state title.

But if not for a mistake Mosley’s freshman year, he could have been going for his fourth straight.

As a freshman, Mosley was undefeated heading into regionals and ranked No. 6 in the country, according to his coach Floyd Lorne.

But at the weigh-in for regionals, Mosley checked in one pound overweight, which disqualified him from the tournament and kept him out of the state tournament as well.

“That was just an awful time,” Mosley said. “I was a freshman and I didn’t know how to react. But it really did teach me that nothing is ever just yours.

“From there I promised myself I would never take it for granted.”

Mosley said he learned to start eating healthy and kept in better shape during the season. Before, he would go through bad cycles of eating whatever he wanted and cutting it all the week of a match.

Lorne said Mosley’s maturation was accelerated by his freshman mistake.

“It’s real tough for these kids and it takes a ton of discipline,” Lorne said. “It’s hard to not eat these things and sacrifice that, but RJ has really shown a lot of leadership and maturity.”

Mosley knows even if he had made weight his freshman year there was no guarantee he would’ve won a state title. He’s focusing now on what he can control.

“It’s just gone and I can’t do anything about it,” Mosley said. “It was a good learning experience. Now I just have to put it all together and go take it one match at a time.”

Del City turnaround restores pride

There were times when Wes Ruth questioned what he was doing.

After only getting one wrestler to the state tournament last year, Ruth wondered what he needed to change to help restore the proud legacy of Del City wrestling.

“Last year was tough mentally and emotionally,” Ruth said. “I’d ask myself, ‘Am I any good at this, are we doing the right things?’ “Turns out it’s a process.” One year later, Del City is coming off a great showing at the Class 5A west regionals with a team finish of sixth place with 137.5 points.

The Eagles also had six wrestlers qualifying for state, including sophomore Donnie Hurd, who finished first at 145 pounds.

“Lot of it is just experience,” Ruth said.

“The commitment level from these young guys has been outstanding. They learned from last year and just continue to improve.”

For Ruth, the improvement from his team is not only validation for him as a coach, but a point of pride for the program that they are on the right track.

“It means the world to me,” Ruth said. “We are not saying this is the end all be all, but I feel like we have a really good formula to fix things and continue to improve. We all take pride in that.”

PCO’s Lancaster ready for state title run

Mason Lancaster came into regionals with less than a dozen matches wrestled on the season.

The Putnam City senior battled a nagging injury for the better part of the early season. But Lancaster finished strong, going 14-0 and placing first at Class 6A west regionals at 220 pounds with win against Edmond North’ Blake Minnick.

“He’s a leader and such a hard worker,” Putnam City coach Mike Walkup said. “He had not wrestled all that much this year, but since he’s been back he’s been an absolute gamer.”

After a third-place finish at state last year, losing to eventual champion Skyler Haynes of Broken Arrow, Walkup thinks it could be Lancaster’s year to take home the title.

“He’s been so close every year,” Walkup said. “Those disappointments got him hungry and knowing what that feels like to come up just that short, I think he’s ready.”