Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Rogers Heritage has eyes on repeating in Class 6A
Rogers Heritage won the Class 6A state high school wrestling championship last spring to deny Bentonville a fourth consecutive title.
That’s a sign of progress for high school wrestling in Arkansas, where more teams appear to be serious contenders in a sport that continues to grow.
“I think there’s three or four teams that could win the team championship in 6A,” said Heritage Coach Izack Wilson. “We’ve got some quality coaches and a lot of wrestlers who compete at a high level.”
The boys and girls state wrestling tournament is a two-day event that begins today and ends Saturday night at the Jack Stephens Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock. The Heritage boys and Searcy girls are defending state champions, but both programs will likely be pushed by a handful of teams eager to return home with team championship hardware.
Arkansas has experienced a rapid growth in high school wrestling, which drew 371 participants to the first state tournament in 2009. The 15th edition that begins today is expected to include 590 boys and 231 girls competing for individual and team honors. More than 20 wrestlers are back to defend individual state championships they won last year from Class 6A, 5A, and 4A-1A divisions.
Wilson coached for eight years at Jay, Okla., before taking over for Ronnie Delk, who moved into administration at Rogers. He’ll be joined in Little Rock by nine War Eagles who qualified for state, including defending state champions Briar Goodwin (heavyweight), Zayne Lewis (126 pounds) and Ethan McCrary (120 pounds). Heritage will bring some momentum into the state meet after edging Bentonville (194.0190.5) in last week’s regional tournament at Rogers High School.
“Winning the regional helps with our confidence, obviously,” Wilson said. Bentonville claimed six first-place finishes to edge Cabot for the 6A boys dual state championship two weeks ago at Springdale Har-Ber. Only the four in each class from the 6A-West and 6A-Central qualify for state.
Cabot will also arrive at the Stephens Center today after beating runner-up Little Rock Central and third-place Conway for the top spot in the 6A-Central regional tournament. Heavyweight Nick Hazeslip, who was a backup last year for the Panthers, has won over 40 matches this season. Cabot is also eager to see how Gavin Reardon (215 pounds) and Logan Eason (190 pounds) perform against the top talent after missing last season because of knee injuries.
“We qualified all 14 guys, so that helps us,” Cabot Coach Justin Turner said. “Bentonville is really good and HarBer has three or four guys who were in the finals last year. Rogers Heritage is the defending state champion and they’re very similar to us in that they’re solid all the way through.”
Van Burn is a top contender in Class 5A after winning its second consecutive dual title at home two weeks ago. Seniors Grant King, Trent Nehf, Taylor Smith, and Shiloh Summers each went undefeated in their matches to help the Pointers drop Searcy 61-12 in the final matches.
The Searcy girls are again a threat for team title with Alena Williams, who is 44-0 on the season, leading the way.