Four Durant wrestlers had strong regional placing performances including three of which punched tickets for the state tournament this week at the OG&E Fairgrounds Coliseum.
Freshman Camila Amaya will participate at 190 pounds in the girls Class 6A division while Mac Barbush qualified at 150 pounds and Aiden Polk at 157 for the Class 5A boys state tournament.
Amaya led the way for the Lady Lions with an extremely impressive run through the regional consolation bracket after dropping her opening round match by fall to Tessa Urrey of Sand Springs.
The Durant grappler notched a 31-second fall win over Pryor’s Tristan Edmonds and took just 1:49 to pin London Chase of Tulsa Hale. A second fall defeat to Urrey put Amaya in the fifthplace match where she dispatched Fiona Schalk from Ponca City in only 28 seconds for the fifth place qualifying spot.
Fellow freshman Camryn Eubanks added a sixth in the 235-pound division thanks to a 2:55 fall triumph over Owasso’s Alex Garcia.
Madison Rivera and Aliah Davis checked in with 2-2 records at 120 and 130 pounds respectively but came up just short of placing. Rivera’s two consolation round wins came via a 60-second fall against Lilly Rhoden of Jenks and 17-2 technical fall against Booker T. Washington grappler Emilia Nguyen. Davis stopped Tallulah Arroyo from McAlester by fall in 5:45 and also pinned Southeast’s Giselle Huerta Orellano in 3:03.
The Lady Lions’ Lillian Stilwell scored a 16-1 technical fall against Chloe Winn from McAlester as she finished 1-2 at 125 pounds. Kenzie Trotter had the same record at 145 pounds with the triumph coming via a 4:59 fall against Kristina Sarmiento of Tulsa Hale.
Polk was the Lion catalyst with a third-place individual finish by winning three of his four regional contests.
After a first round bye he powered past Kaden Nation of Collinsville for a 9-1 major decision ahead of a semifinal loss to Robert Miller from Tulsa Edison. Polk bounced back in solid fashion by eliminating Bode Harris of Bishop Kelley with a 1:38 fall and then squeezed out a 4-1 decision over Collinsville’s Kaden Nation in the third-place match.
Barbush took a slightly different route to the semifinals, winning his first two matches with a 10-7 decision against Raul Perez from Claremore and a 20-4 technical fall over McAlester’s Redus Bowman.
Following a semifinal fall loss to Elgin standout Braxten Antuna, Barbush rallied with a second pin fall win over Perez (this time in 1:53) but fell to Sonny Bullett from Tahlequah in the third place match to wrap up fourth.
A trio of Lions managed one regional victory but finished 1-2 overall and short of placing position.
Canan Walls had one of those wins at 120 pounds with a 38-second fall decision against Conner Brown of Tulsa Hale. At 138, Jacoby Brigge’s victory came in consolation round action as well, stopping Tulsa Memorial’s Saul Banda for a 3:09 fall.
Evan Smith posted a 4:37 fall opening round verdict facing Brandon McNack from Tulsa Edison before coming up on the short end of two straight matches.