OKLAHOMA CITY — For the first time since 2015, Weatherford wrestling had two wrestlers medal at the state wrestling tournament at Jim Norick Arena.
Sam Hoffman and Izeaha Freeborn each finished in fourth place in their weight classes. Hoffman wrestled in the 195-pound weight class and Freeborn wrestled in the 220-pound weight class.
“The first day was a little rough, only winning one match, but it was a great weekend with so much to build off of,” coach Corey Duncan said. “It definitely was not the performance we wanted, but in a tournament like this, you just have to roll with the punches. Saturday, we came out and nearly won all of our first round consolation matches. First time since 2015 getting two wrestlers medals and we finished 13th as a team in Class 4A, which is the best finish we have had since I was a head coach.”
Hoffman lost his first match Friday. In his first match Saturday, he battled back and won, advancing to the consolation semifinals. He also won the consolation semifinals with a pin, and he advanced to the thirdplace match.
“Going to the state tournament and placing is not a bad thing at all,” Hoffman said. “It has been an honor to wrestle for Weatherford and it has been a great time. Coming back from the consolation side was very grueling. We have such an amazing head coach, great staff and Weatherford wrestling has a great chance to keep getting more and more wrestlers into the state tournament.”
Freeborn won his match Friday against Wagoner’s Jammal Riggs. The match went into overtime and it came down to the final seconds. Freeborn got the point to win the match and advance to the semifinals.
“Izeaha wrestles smart and solid,” Duncan said. “This always gives him a chance to win. He had great position and was able to get the job done.”
In his semifinal match, Freeborn lost the semifinal match Saturday, putting him in the consolation semifinals match. He advances to the third-place match before losing to finish fourth.
“The opportunity was there for me to win, but I was unable to get it done,” Freeborn said. “It was a lot of blood, sweat and tears I left behind. Weatherford wrestling is in great shape, because we have doubled the wrestlers who got into state and had lots of guys nearly get into the placing matches. Weatherford wrestling had a great season at state, but brighter days are ahead.”
Freshman Cooper Moses qualified for the wrestle-in round at 145 pounds. He lost that match.
“We were so happy Cooper got here as a freshman,” Duncan said. “We wanted him to have success, but it was a super tough draw. Out of the 10 guys who made it to the state tournament at 145 pounds, he was the only freshman. He ate it up this weekend and is for sure ready to build off of this.”
Jaxon Klassenn lost his first match Friday night at 132 pounds, but Saturday he came back and won his first match in the consolation round. In the consolation semifinal round, Klaassen lost and wasn’t able to advance to the third place match.
Kale Visnieski lost his first match at 170 pounds. He won his first match Saturday and advanced to the consolation semifinals. The semifinal consolation match was a close one, but Visnieski was unable to win.
Eli Soto wrestled at 285 pounds, but lost both of his matches.
“Kale, Jaxon and Eli each fought their tails off,” Duncan said. “They gave themselves a chance to win matches and to get to the placing matches and that is all we ask. We have to fix a couple things, but they wrestled very hard. They work so hard and are ready to work this offseason”
Duncan said they talked about not giving up. If they are not able to win first, then he told them to wrestle hard and get whatever else is available.
“If we cannot get first, we try and get the next best thing,” Duncan said. “Our guys battled back through the consolation. We had four guys battle their way through. Sam and Izeaha were able to get to the third-place match. Kale and Jaxon were close, but they battled as well. I was very proud of the way we fought this weekend and all season long.”
Even as some of the wrestlers got beat and saw their season come to an end, they always supported their teammates throughout the tournament this past weekend and all season long.
“What I enjoyed most this weekend was the fact that every single guy we had here was cheering one another on,” Duncan said. “In a sport like wrestling, it is very individualized. When things do not go your way or you get beat, it is very easy to just sit in the stands with a bad attitude and not cheer your teammate on. However, we did not do this and I loved how we were all near the mat cheering one another on. I love these guys, love how they came together and it was just a great weekend.”
Duncan said Weatherford returns lots of experience and they have some guys coming up from junior high who can help the Eagles get more wrestlers back to state next season.
“We have a really good junior high program coming up,” Duncan said. “We are graduating three guys who placed at regionals and two state tournament placers. However, we are bringing back five guys who have been to the state tournament. With what we have coming up and if we continue to build off of this, we will get more guys into the state tournament.”