Wolverines look to ‘get back on track’ this season

Two state champions return for Vian girls

With the return of four wrestlers who narrowly missed qualifying for the boys’ state tournament, two grapplers who won state titles at the girls’ state tournament and other talented wrestlers head coach Alvie Killingsworth is optimistic about Vian’s upcoming season.

“On the boys’ side we’re expecting to kind of get back on track, said Killingsworth, the second-year head coach. “We had a couple of kids last year that were really close to qualifying for state. I think we had three that were a match away and one that made the semifinals at regionals and they’re all back, just another year older and more experienced.

“We actually have a full schedule this year. Since Covid our schedule has really not been what it was and so coming back we’ve finally got a full tournament schedule so we’ll have more mat time and more chances to get some of that experience that we needed at regionals.

“On the girls’ side we have more high school girls than we’ve ever had. We’ve got a good little crop of freshmen. We went to the Jay Border Wars Tournament in early December. One of our returning state champs, Avery Richey, didn’t go with us but Taya (Hunt) did what she did all last year. She won the tournament with all falls and then our freshmen picked up and they really showed out. We had one (Cadence Barnhill) get third and she wrestled lights out. She wrestled awesome and we had another one (Aubrey Gant) get sixth and she did really, really good for us that day too. All of them got some wins and they all got some good experience in their first big girls’ tournament.

“They didn’t get to go to a whole lot last year. We had a tournament that got canceled because of Covid and flu there at the school that was hosting and then they were supposed to go to girls’ junior high state and we weren’t able to attend because we had that bad ice storm last year so they didn’t get to go to that. So they only got to go to two tournaments last year so that (Jay Tournament) was a big eye-opening experience for them and it was their first big tournament and they performed really, really well, especially for the first time. So I was pretty happy with that.

“We do have a boys’ and a girls’ team but they (Vian’s wrestlers) treat it like it’s one team. We practice together and do everything together and all of them will do all aspects of the sport together. The tournaments that we go to have boys and girls so they all wrestle alongside each other anyway. They don’t ever look at it like we have two teams. We have one team.” Assistant Coach

Garett Willis will assist Killingsworth this season.

Team Leadership

“The younger girls really, really look up to Taya (Hunt) and Avery (Richey), and Taya especially,” Killingsworth said. “They see how Taya and Avery warm up and the things that they do and they’ll kind of try to mimic it and if you’re going to have a role model that’s definitely the one. Even out here (practice) Taya will lead the warm-ups every day, with boys and girls, and everybody follows along and kind of listens, and it’s a big aspect of it for sure.

“On the boys’ side the seniors aren’t really vocal a whole lot. Nick (Scoggins) goes out there, he’s going to wrestle his match, he’s going to do his thing but he’s not the guy that’s going to get really hyped up and excited and maybe that will change this year. I saw a little bit (of emotion) from him on the football field. He would show emotion and do some good things during the football games. Maybe that will change.

“Typically our leadership on the boys’ side has come from some of the younger ones who have been kind of more vocal and lead by example a little bit there.” Seniors

Vian’s senior boys this season are Nick Scoggins, Jordan Morris and Gage Carlton and Taya Hunt is also a senior.

“Jordan is going to be at 106 and he did really well for us last year,” said Killingsworth. “He was vastly undersized last year. He only weighed 92 pounds as a junior in high school so he was giving up 15, 16, 18 pounds every single match. He’s a little bit scrappier and quicker than he looks and so a lot of times he’d go out there and get the first takedown. He’s gained some size this year, he’s much closer to that 106 weight class, so I’m hoping that really helps him out.

“Gage (175) is a senior and he hasn’t wrestled since his freshman year. He wrestled a little bit when he was in youth league and then he moved up and wrestled junior high for us and wrestled his freshman year. Gage does a lot of things athletically well and so I’m hoping he has a good year with that.

“Nick Scoggins (215) is a senior and he was our regional semifinalist last year and ended up getting sixth at regionals. He got that semifinal spot and then he lost three really close matches back to back to back and ended up not being able to go to state. It was tough. He was at 220 last year and that weight class is now 215.

“Taya was at 145 at Jay but she’ll be at 140 this season. Taya is a defending state champion and she got second her sophomore year.

Juniors

The Wolverines’ junior boys are Brandon Lamar, Lane Jameson and Brandon Major and Avery Richey is also a junior.

“Brandon Lamar is a junior at 120,” Killingsworth said. “Brandon actually moved here from Tuttle this past summer. He’s been wrestling for two years and he’s got some really good skills and technique. I’m expecting him to have a good year at that weight class.

“We’ve got Lane Jameson at 190. Lane was another one that made the consolation quarters last year at regionals and was just one win away from being able to get an opportunity (to qualify for the state tournament).

“Brandon Major (150) hasn’t wrestled in a couple of years. He came out for me in junior high and did pretty well and caught on and he liked it. Great kid and does anything you ask of him. He came back out this year and he’s going to fill right in for us.

“Avery will be at 130 or 135, somewhere in there. Avery is another state champion that we have. She’s a junior this year and we’re expecting her to pick up right where she left off, kind of the same as Taya did.”

Vian’s sophomore boys are Gunner Richey and Tristan Wiley.

“Gunner (126) is probably our most seasoned high school wrestler,” said Killingsworth. “He’s been going since he was a little kid and Gunner’s got a lot of good technique about him as well. He had a good year last year for us and just wasn’t able to go the regional tournament as a freshman. I really believe that Gunner would have qualified for state last year as a freshman after looking at the weight class and how things played out. This year I’m expecting him to have a good year and make it all the way.

“Tristan is another kid that came out in junior high and I think this is his third year now. He’s caught on and he goes to absolutely everything he can go to and wrestle at. He’s wrestled at multiple places all over the country and his experience has just grown so much in such a short period of time. I feel like he’s going to have another good, solid year for us. He had some big wins last year and we’re hoping that continues this year. Tristan Wiley got beat out in the consolation quarterfinals at regionals last season. He was at 152 last year but they changed the weight classes this year and so he’ll be at 157.”

Freshmen

Vian’s freshmen this season are Cadence Barnhill, Aubrey Gant, Carissa Prock and Carmen Rautenberg.

“Cadence Barnhill got third at Jay,” Killingsworth remarked. “She lost an overtime match to the girl that won it and she lost a match at the very end to the girl that got second. So she was legitimately the third-best girl there. She was at 105 there.

“The other girls that placed at Jay were Taya and Aubrey Gant and Aubrey had kind of a tough pool there. She ended up fourth in her pool but then got sixth in the entire tournament. She was at 115.

“Carissa Prock is a freshman and she’ll at 125, 130, somewhere in there. I’ve got two the exact same size. Carissa is a second-year wrestler and she’s still trying to figure it out. She goes to everything constantly. Her younger sister is one of our better youth league wrestlers and Carissa started trying it in junior high. She’s trying to figure it out but she goes to so many tournament and she’s really picked it up and done really well in the past two months.

“Carmen Rautenberg will be another in that 125 to 130 area. Carmen wrestled about a month last year and she broke her collarbone in practice so she didn’t get very much experience at all. She’s done really well considering this is essentially her first year. Carmen’s got several wins this year and so she’s starting to have some success and starting to figure things out a little bit for herself there.

“Right now it’s about getting those younger girls (freshmen) as much mat time as possible and trying to get them caught up with the older two (Hunt and Richey).”

Schedule

Vian’s district (3A-7) remains unchanged from last season.

“As far as our district is concerned we’ve got Jay in our district and they’ve been perennial top 3 the past several years,” said Killingsworth. “That will be a tough one but they also lost a few kids which gives us some opportunities in some spots to maybe do some good things.

“Lincoln Christian is another solid team. We beat Lincoln Christian last year, I think it was 40-30, so it was a pretty tight dual with them. They’re building a program and every year they get a little bit better and they get more kids so it’s not going to be by any means an easy dual when we go up there and wrestle those two.

“Henryetta’s in our district, Tulsa Webster’s in our district, Okmulgee’s in our district and Morris is the other team in our district.”

Vian will compete in four tournaments in January. “We don’t schedule a whole lot in December just because our football teams typically go so deep in the playoffs but right when January hits we’ll be going full-bore,” Killingsworth said. “We’ve got Inola, and then Catoosa, Paul Post (Sallisaw) and the Maverick Conference (Sallisaw), so we’ll have four good ones right in a row.”