A quartet of GHS wrestlers took home individual championships during the finals of the Class 5A state wrestling tournament held last Saturday at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock.
The four champions include Hayden Rofkahr at 106 pounds, Ty Moose at 126 pounds, Colton Tuck at 138 pounds, and senior Dylan Wilson at 160 pounds.
In the team competition, Searcy won the overall state title with 247 points, followed by Hot Springs Lakeside (234) and Greenwood (233). The two-day event began last Friday with Greenwood as one of the favorites to win.
In late January the Bulldogs defeated both Searcy and Lakeside in the dual state championships to claim Greenwood’s first-ever state wrestling title, though the duals are not recognized by the Arkansas Activities Association.
Rofkahr, only a ninth-grader, earned a 5-0 decision against Greenbrier’s Cody LeMaster in the finals. The freshman finished his first varsity season with an impressive 29-6 record.
A sophomore, Moose improved his record to 40-3 as he pinned Little Rock Christian’s Ethan Bittle in just over a minute.
Tuck capped an incredible 37-2 season with a fall (3:02) over Russellville’s Gavin McCartney in the finals. A junior, Tuck is the son of assistant coach David Tuck.
Wilson, a GHS senior, improved to 31-6 on the season after getting a major decision (15-4) over Jonesboro’s Trevor Williams.
The Bulldogs also had a state runner-up in junior Greg Dean at 145 pounds. Dean finished the season at 14-2. Freshman Tyler Crossno was also a runner-up at 220 pounds, finishing his season at 29-11.
Greenwood Head Coach John Kincade had several other wrestlers to place. They included sophomore Gustavo Martinez, who finished third at 113 pounds, and four others. Martinez went 24-13 on the season.
Sam Johnson was also third at 152 pounds. Garrett Newman was fourth at 170 pounds, Garrett Haralson was sixth at 120 pounds, and Tatum Sadler placed sixth at 132 pounds.
“[We] had a successful season,” said Head Coach John Kincade, who founded the GHS program in 2012. “[We won] the 5A Dual state championship, the 5A West conference title, and finished third at the 5A state championship. We placed in 11 out of 14 weight classifications [at state].”
As a team, the Bulldogs were very young this season, with 14 freshmen on the varsity squad. In addition, Greenwood’s youth wrestling team also earned runner-up status in state competition.
According to Kincade, the future looks bright indeed for Greenwood wrestling.