Despite dropping his opening round match, Durant sophomore Aiden Polk made a successful run through the Class 5A state tournament while claiming a third place finish at 144 pounds in the final state wrestling championships at State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City.
Caddo’s Gage Vaughn came up just short in her quest for a second straight state championship, placing second in the girls 135-pound division as the sophomore finished the season with a 30-3 record.
Polk lost a 10-3 decision to Elgin’s Braxten Antuna in the first round but would later get revenge for that defeat.
The Lion stalwart rebounded nicely to wallop Michael Robertson of Claremore for a 21-3 technical fall. After that was a 7-1 decision over Kade Carter from Shawnee, setting up a rematch with Antuna for the bracket third place award.
Polk proved strong on the defensive end and picked up a pair of scoring moves to notch the 5-0 decision win that culminated his season record at 36-10.
Teammate Adam Haney saw his senior campaign halted in the tournament bracket qualifying matchups, dropping a 20-3 technical fall verdict against Blanchard’s Brody Curliss.
For Vaughn, who was the tournament’s top seed coming off last year’s state title run, got rolling early with a 1:17 fall victory over Ania-maely Fox of Cache. She then followed with a dominant 15-0 technical fall against Tecumseh’s Kylei Gokey.
The finale was a dogfight throughout before Catoosa senior standout Frankie West came away with the win over Vaughn by posting a third period fall at the 4:42 mark.