After a great inaugural season that featured a pair of individual state championships, the Greenwood High School wrestling team has embarked on its second year of competition. The Bulldogs had a busy weekend, closing out their long holiday break and starting the new year by taking part in a two-day meet at Springdale Har-Ber. Altogether, the ‘Dogs wrestled against nine different teams from Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
Last Friday they were beaten by a team from Smithville, Missouri, but then rallied to defeat Har-Ber. Greenwood then lost to Monett, Missouri, but then recovered to notch a win over Conway, before falling to Blackwell, Oklahoma. On Saturday the Bulldogs defeated Rogers and Rogers Heritage (on a tie-breaker), but also lost to St. Benedict, Tennessee, and Maumelle, Arkansas (also a tie-breaker). Maumelle is the current state championship team in Class 1A-5A.
Prior to Christmas, the Bulldogs won a tournament at Poteau, Oklahoma, scoring 187 points to 162 for the second place Poteau Pirates. Other Arkansas and Oklahoma teams that competed in the bi-state event were Fort Smith Northside and Southside, Van Buren, Keys, Talihina, Quinton, and Checotah. Greenwood had three individual first place finishes, two second place finishes, and seven third place finishers. Taylor Compton of Greenwood was named as the outstanding overall wrestler at the Poteau meet, competing in the 138 pound class. Compton is also currently 25-0 for the Bulldogs this season.
In the 106 pounds category, Jacob Barker of Greenwood earned first place honors, while Dustin Williams took first in the 120 pounds class. First place in the 126 pounds category went to Caleb Erskine of Greenwood. Nicholas Gusdorf took second place for the Bulldogs in the 170 pounds classification. Jadrien Flores also earned second place points at 195 pounds.
Third place finishers for Greenwood included Evan McClure (132 lbs.), Matthew Jackson (138 lbs.), Landon Post (152 lbs.), Michael Dover (182 lbs.), Drew Dundee (195 lbs.), Toby Luangsy (220 lbs.) and Gunnar White.
This week the Bulldogs were scheduled to compete in a dual meet at Checotah, Oklahoma on Tuesday, then at Van Buren on Thursday, before ending the week at Fayetteville on Saturday. John Kincade is the head coach for the Bulldogs’ wrestling team.