by Peter Dewey

A large contingent of Texans crossed the Red River the day after Thanksgiving to pit their wrestling prowess against the some of the best wrestlers in America at the Oklahoma Open. In addition to the usual collection of Okie bad boys were wrestlers from powerhouses Rio Rancho in New Mexico and Iowa City (Iowa) West and some very tough grapplers from Butte, Montana and other places. Texas wrestlers even outnumbered Okies in a few weight classes, and nearly tripled their medal count from last year.

103
Unseeded Brandon McDonald of Canyon Randall went 5-0 to claim the title. In the process, he beat Adam Purcell of Trinity 4-2 and David Staines of Bishop Lynch 5-0 in the finals. This win should elevate McDonald to the #1 103 pounder in Texas. He looked extremely tough. David Staines of BL had hard fought wins in both the quarters and semis. Riley Adamson lost to Adam Purcell but fought all the way through wrestlebacks to claim 3rd including a 4-0 win over Purcell. Riley also won the junior division at 102 pounds. Purcell, who was runner-up at 103 last year had two tough loses – to McDonald 4-2 and Adamson 4-0. He will be a force at 103. Eleven Texans in a weight class of 26.

112
Twelve Texans in a weight class of 43, including George Gogonas and Ian Aguirre of Trimble Tech, but the story was unseeded Erik Spjut of The Woodlands. His only loss was 3-0 to Aquirre, a loss he later avenged by an 8-1 score on his way to 4-3 win in the Consolation finals. That is three outstanding tournaments in a row for Spjut. He is obviously the real deal and will be a serious contender for the state championship in a very tough 112-pound weight class.

119
This weight saw #1 seed (and #6 natioanally) Nate Moore of Iowa City West on a collision course with #2 seed (and #1 nationally) Ben Ashmore of BL. Moore was a Champion here last year at 103. Ben was third at 112. They met in the finals. Ben got the first takedown, but Moore got the next two takedowns. It went into OT and then to double OT where Moore was able to ride Ben out for 30 seconds and win 6-5. Josh Sandoval of CHHS wrestled brilliantly, losing only 5-1 to Ashmore and took 3rd. (Texans/total wrestlers = 13/46)

125
Dak Adamson had a very good tournament, losing only to eventual champion and OU recruit Brian Shelton and beating his former teammate Dominic Valencia from Rio Rancho 8-6 in the consolation finals. Sean Kitchen was 3-2 with two tough 1-0 loses to #2 seed Greg Cannon of Casica Hall and Valencia. (12/45)

130
Texans did not distinguish themselves at this weight. #1 seed Luke Silver of BL was rolling until a semi-final match with a tough and nationally ranked Cole Dallaserra from Butte, Montana. Luke had an injury timeout and it appeared questionable if he could continue. He did and finished with a flurry but it was not enough. Silver injury defaulted out of the consolation bracket. Gabe Hale formerly of Marcus finished fourth. (14/38)

135
Another weight were Texans were shut out. The best performance was by Colin McElroy of The Woodlands but he fell short of placing. (8/31)

140
Luke Ashmore and Johnny Koepp dominated all opponents and made it to the finals where they did not wrestle. Coaches decision. Coach Matthews says these guys go at it every day and felt it more prudent not to have them wrestle. #2 seed and nationally ranked Seth Vernon of Tulsa Union injury defaulted in his second match. (14/45)

145
John Luttrel of Arlington had a breakout tournament. He lost one match 5-4 and roared through the wrestle backs for 3rd including a win over AJ Forsythe of HP. Wes White of Lamar was snakebit. Up 8-3 in his semi-final match against Dakota Simpson of Cushing, he initiated a move that he didn’t have properly set up and was reversed to his back. Another tilt in the final seconds by Simpson and White comes up short 9-8. Then there was another brutal 6-5 loss to Corby Ray of Sapula in the consolation semi-finals. (13/33)

152
Taylor Torisk of Dumas looked phenomenal. His only blemish was a 4-2 loss to eventual champion Chris Hacker of El Reno. Included in his run to a 3rd place finish was a 4-0 decision over #2 seed Ace Adamson of BL. Spencer Jernigan went 3-2 and lost by fall to Chris Hacker.(14/37)

160
Jason Logan of Dumas lost his first match 9-1 to Chris Powers of Sapulpa. He did not lose again and, like his teammate Torisk, took 3rd. In his run through the wrestlebacks he avenged his loss to Powers. (7/26)

171
Again the consolation bracket was owned by a Texan; this time Ted Gambordella of HP. After losing his second match on the championship side to the eventual runner-up, he won 5 matches in a row to finish 3rd.

189
Ben Grisz of St. Marks is probably the best kept secret in Dallas wrestling. It is rare for a sophmore to dominate an upper weight class at a tough tournament but Grisz did. He pinned the #1 seed in his first match and pinned another Okie in the finals. In between he had a real test from Michael Bosetta (NOJ and LA state champ) who has been wrestling in Texas this year due to Hurricane Katrina. These two put on quite a show for 189-pounders. Bosetta went up 4-0 and Grisz came back. Bosetta went up 8-5 late in the 3rd period but an escape and takedown by Grisz sent it into OT where Grisz got the takedown. Final 10-8 OT. Bosetta won twice in the wrestlebacks to place 3rd. I sure hope these two match up again and I am there to see it. (4/21)

215
The Texas story here was Brice Hohenberger. Pinned in his first match, Hohenberger won 5 matches in the wrestlebacks before dropping a tough 7-5 decision in the consolation finals. (3/18)

275
Several Texas heavyweights won some nice matches, and although two Okies met in the Championship finals, two Texans met in the Consolation finals with Troy Witt of Martin winning 2-1 over Evan Benjamin of Coppell. (7/21)

So how did this year’s showing compare to 2003 and 2004?

Here’s the list of place winners for each year:

2003 (9)
1st: Luke “Hi-Ho” Silver, Zack Tramel
2nd: Ben Ashmore, Will “The Thrill” Rowe, Keegan Mueller, Jack Kitchen
3rd: none
4th: Matt “The Crowbar” Hobar, John Prigg, Joseph “The Sherriff” Sheffield

2004 (6)
1st: Dan “The Big Cat” Shoffner
2nd: Adam Purcell
3rd: Ben “The Beast” Ashmore, Luke Silver, Devon Lewis
4th: Ryan “The Little Cat” Blair

2005 (17)
1st: Brandon McDonald, “Cool Hand” Luke Ashmore/Johnny “The Krusher” Koepp, Ben Grisz “LeBear”
2nd: David Staines, Ben Ashmore, Ashmore/Koepp
3rd: Riley Adamson, Erik Spjut, Josh Sandoval, Dak Adamson, John Luttrel, Taylor Torisk, Jason Logan, Ted Gambordella, Troy Witt, [Michael Bosetta]
4th: Brice Hohenberger, Evan Benjamin, [Gabe Hale]