3 Sallisaw wrestlers ready for Saturday’s CASC Viking Open
The 2023 Carl Albert State College Viking Open wrestling tournament will be all day Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m., at Mick Thompson Fieldhouse on the CASC-Poteau campus.
The 2023 Carl Albert State College Viking Open wrestling tournament will be all day Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m., at Mick Thompson Fieldhouse on the CASC-Poteau campus.
Three CASC wrestlers, and former Sallisaw Black Diamonds matmen, are excited to get to participate in the one-day tournament as well as represent their junior college.
“I’m excited,” said sophomore Trey Hudgens, who will represent the Vikings at 184 pounds.
“I feel ready,” said freshman Ryan Bashant-Honeycutt, who will be at heavyweight. “I’ve been waiting for this.”
“I’m a little bit nervous, but I feel pretty good about it,” said freshman Gavin Throne, also a heavyweight wrestler. “It’s a great way to show off my skills I’ve developed over the past year.”
Hudgens and Bashant-Honeycutt are excited for a chance to be their respective weight class champion by day’s end.
“That would be amazing,” Hudgens said. “It would be great.”
“I would be ecstatic,” Bashant-Honeycutt said. “I would feel really good.”
All three local matmen would be over the moon if they would be the champion at their respective weight class in their own CASC Tournament.
“It would feel pretty awesome,” Hudgens said.
“That would be even more special,” Bashant-Honeycutt said. “It would be great.”
“It would be a great opportunity to represent Carl Albert to win the heavyweight against people that come from all over the state of Oklahoma, Arkansas and even Texas,” Throne said. “It would be good to just come in and show that we’re actually pretty good and be out on the map.” Of course, if Throne and Bashant-Honeycutt achieve their goal of making the heavyweight finals, it would mean they would grapple against each other to become the heavyweight champion at the 2023 CASC Viking Open.
“If all comes to plan, it will be me and Ryan,” Throne said. “It would be two heavyweights from Carl Albert that are also from Sallisaw going head to head. Hopefully, of course, I would want to win it. It would be pretty fun. I think it would be pretty interesting to see how that would turn out.” “It would be a rematch he’s won, but it would be very exciting,” Bashant-Honeycut said. “That would really be good representation (for Sallisaw).”
The CASC Lady Viking Open tournament will take place Sunday at Mick Thompson Fieldhouse.
