The 2022-23 high school mat season is now over with the 5A state tournament held late last month at UALR in Little Rock. In his tenth year as the founder and leader of the GHS wrestling program, Head Coach John Kincade was very pleased with the performance of his young Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs that earned one female state champion and a trio of state runners-up among the boys. They were freshman Farah Crossno, sophomore Jonathan Martinez, along with juniors Jarod Pace and Bryce Williams. All four are expected to return for next season.
For the first time in the short history of prep wrestling in the state, the Arkansas Activities Association required state tournament participants to quality through a round of regional tournaments, something Coach Kincade wholeheartedly supported. “Personally, I was very excited for this to happen,” he said. “They had two regionals. The North Regional was in Mountain Home and the South Regional was in Lake Hamilton, [and] four of the top five teams came from the North Regional – Van Buren, Mountain Home, Searcy, and [Greenwood].
“We ended up qualifying seven guys for state,” Coach K continued. The state tournament was held the last weekend in February (24-25) at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock. “Those who qualified were Jonathan Martinez (106 pounds), Jarod Pace (126), Jackson Witherington (132), Landon Rofkahr (138), Eli Whitaker (190), Bryce Williams (215), and Logan Taylor (HWT).” Witherington and Rofkahr finished fourth at state, while Martinez, Pace, and Williams all lost in their respective state finals match. All three were named as All-State performers.
“The season went just about like I thought it would with the guys,” said Coach Kincade. “We were able to finish in fifth place at state. This year's [state] champion was Van Buren, followed by Mountain Home, Searcy, Lake Hamilton, and us. Going into the season I thought if we could finish in the top five, it would be a good thing. I lost a lot of talent, experience, and leadership [to graduation] off last year's team. But this year's team did exactly what we needed them to do. They worked extremely hard.
“The girls’ regional tournament was held in Searcy on February 11th,” said Coach K. “The top four places got to advance, [and] we had Farah Crossno, Jorja Betts, Mary Skacel, and Kaylea Brooks qualify for the state meet. Unfortunately, Kaylea Brooks had an injury in her last match [and] wasn't able to compete at state.
“Jorja Betts (115 pounds) placed fourth at state and became an all-stater,” he continued. “Farah Crossno (105) became a state champion. She defeated a girl from Sylvan Hills in the semi-finals and a girl from Searcy in the finals [after] both had pinned her in the previous two weeks. You can imagine how excited she was to win the state title and become an all-stater.” The GHS ninth grader has followed in the footsteps of her older brother, Tyler, a three-time state champion who graduated in 2022.
“I couldn't be happier with the three seniors I had on the team,” said the beloved coach. “Caden Erskine, Michael Ruark, and Logan Taylor were very hard workers and led the team by example. Both Caden and Michael lost in the blood round (one match from placing) at the regional tournament to go to state. I was very proud of them.
“On the other hand, Logan only weighed 197 pounds, going against guys 70-80 pounds heavier. Bryce and Logan had to wrestle off at 215 pounds. So when Logan ended up [wrestling] at heavyweight and was very close to placing at the state tournament, he got the attention of a college coach. Logan impressed the Williams Baptist University head coach, and he has signed a letter of intent to wrestle for them the next four years.”
As for next season and beyond, Coach Kincade remains very bullish on the prospects of his two squads. “We were a young team this year,” he said. “I have 10 returning starters and five state placers [coming back] next [season], with some good young kids coming into the [program]. The future looks bright for the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs.”