Vikings gets wrestling season underway

The 2024-25 collegiate wrestling season got underway for the Carl Albert State College Vikings with the Friends University Falcon Open on Saturday in Wichita, Kan.

“As far as national qualifiers go, we don’t have any back,” CASC Vikings coach Jake Lords said. “We had nine qualifiers last year, and they were all sophomores — and seven of them were third-year sophomores. Being a junior college, it’s hard to say we’re a young program, but it really feels like we’re a young team. We’re trying to find out who is going to be the leaders.”

One Viking back this season has local ties, former Sallisaw Black Diamond matman Ryan Bashant-Honeycutt, who will either be at heavyweight or at 197 pounds.

“Ryan is working really hard,” Lords. “He’s in between weight classes right now, trying to figure out if he wants to stay at heavyweight (285 pounds) or go down to 197. I’m really excited to see what he decides to do. He’s an awesome person. He’s a great culture guy. He’s positive all the time. He loves to help keep things light and fun. He’s energetic. He’s awesome to have around.”

Two major returners are Ethan Day (184 pounds) and Caden “Tank” Felts (165).

“Ethan and ‘Tank’ are probably our most decorated returners,” Lords said. “Those are a couple of talented guys. ‘Tank’ is a third-year sophomore. He narrowly missed qualifying for nationals his freshman year, and last year he broke his hand midway through the year. He got a medical hardship. He’s pretty motivated this year to go win a national championship.

“Ethan wrestled all year long. About two weeks before the regional tournament, he fractured a bone in his neck, so he couldn’t wrestle. He probably would have been in the finals of our regional tournament, a national qualifier and probably an All-American. We’re really looking to having him back in the line-up.”

The rest of the roster is comprised of Caden Betz (125 pounds), Mason Hanna (125), Giuseppe Minutillo (125), Ryder Clark (125), Daniel Valdez (133), Eric Hussaini (133), Seanmichael Gonzalez (133), Keegan Sullivan (133), Liam Sherrill (141), Kaiden Cue (141), Kason Mitchell (141), Owen Camera (141), Cash Sessions (141), Hunter Perkins (149), Zyquarrius Nelson (149), Trequan Buttram (149), Derrick Leatherman (149), Mason Gordon (157), Elijah Weathers (157), Bailey Rodriguez (165), Gavin Weightman (165), Caden Kelley (165), Deontre Buttram (174/184), Ethan Rowland (184), T.D. Thomas (184), Ezequiel Palos (197), Demaris Medlock (197), Carmichael Gonzalez (197), Marquonn Journey (heavyweight), Landen Brinkley (heavyweight) and Creshawn Mayberry (heavyweight).

“We’re really excited,” Lords said. “We’ve got some questions on the roster in terms of who’s going to be ‘the guy’ (at each weight class) and who’s going to be where, but after the Black vs. Blue Dual (which took place Oct. 23 at CASC’s Mick Thompson Fieldhouse), I’ll have a little bit more of an answer. I don’t think we can go wrong either way. We want to put our best possible line-up out there and be as competitive as we can be. Fortunately, we have a bunch of men, no matter if they start at the start of the year or whatever the case may be, that they’re going to step up and compete, have fun and, hopefully, at the end of the day get their degree, leave here better people all while serving the community.”

Unlike the women, the men will not go directly to the NJCAA National Tournament, which will be March 7-8 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The Vikings must qualify for the national tournament at the NJCAA Regional Tournament, which will be Feb. 15 at Pratt, Kan.

“It’s a little bit different on the women’s side because we can have three (wrestler) per weight up to 25 to the national tournament, but on the men’s side, we can only take one per weight, which is 10,” Lords said. “It’s a little bit easier to talk about all the women we’re excited about than the men. We’re excited about our young guys. They’re buying in. It’s taken a couple of months, but they’re figuring life out a little bit. They’re working pretty hard.”