Mustang wrestling returning to the mat
By Brody Feldmann
Staff Writer
The Mustang wrestling team went into the winter break with a 1-2 dual record with their two toughest duals behind them. The Broncos sit at No. 9 in tournament rankings and No. 10 in dual rankings.
“January is going to be a tough month for us, we’ve got some pretty tough duals and tournaments coming up with Geary this weekend,” head coach Brian Picklo said. “We are going to have some battles in front of us but, the guys are looking good and I was pretty happy with how Christmas practices went.”
The wrestling team competed in three preseason tournaments and had one wrestler place in all three which was Trey Edwards at 132 pounds.
At the first tournament the Edmond North Open Joe Lupton and Trey Edwards finished the tournament in 3rd. The next weekend at the Yukon Open Trey Edwards was the only varsity placer with a second place finish.
But, the Broncos would have much more success in the final preseason tournament with six placers in the Pre-Turkey Open. Joey Carter, Gage McBride and Edwards all finished as the tournament champions, Cameron Picklo and Lupton took second while Trey Cossey finished in third.
“Nothing is set in stone until February. The way I look at it is everything is preseason until regionals and state, everything is preparation for that,” Picklo said.
The Broncos opened the dual season with a loss to Edmond North 17-42 at Edmond North. Mustang had three pins from Lupton, Picklo and Cossey while Meadows and McBride won by decision.
Then the Broncos got their first dual victory against Heritage Hall in the first home dual of the season 51-31. Arin Copas, McBride, Blake Russell and Trey Edwards won by forfeit while Austin Brown, Lupton, Picklo and Weldon Bryan all got pins.
The Broncos competed at the Mid-America Nationals hosted in Enid January 9th-10th and finished in sixth as a team. McBride finished with the best individual finish with a second place finish, Lupton, Picklo both took third and Meadows finished in fourth.
Brown and Russell finished in fifth while Edwards, Collin Campbell and Copas all three finished in ninth.
The week before winter break Mustang faced off against rival Yukon losing to the Millers 30-36. Only two wrestlers had falls against Yukon which were Picklo and Meadows. Lupton won by a major decision and Edwards, Russell, Brown, Copas and McBride all won by decision.
“We went 8-6 with Yukon and I feel like we should have won that dual. That shows that we are up there, we’re in the mix, not at the top of the heap but we are in a respectable spot,” Picklo said.
After the break for the Broncos is busy. On Thursday the Broncos dual Southmoore and Putnam City at home, Friday and Saturday they will be at the historic Geary Open and then next week they travel to Putnam City twice to face off against Putnam City West and North.
“Everything we do is in preparation for that tournament. I really think we have the ability to have the most state qualifiers that Mustang has had in a very long time,” Picklo said.
