TULSA — Gage Vaughn of the Madill Takedown Club made history as Southern Oklahoma’s only Junior-level girl to conquer the 2025 USAOKW Freestyle/ Greco State Championship. That tournament took place at the Arvest Convention Center on May 24, 2025, over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
Vaughn is from Caddo. Vaughn took the gold medal in Freestyle, wrestling in the Junior Girls 135lb division. Making quick work of her opponent, she punched her ticket for the 2025 USMC Junior Nationals, commonly referred to as “Fargo.”
To say Fargo is a big deal is deeply understated. Fargo is the end-of-season competition where qualified youth wrestlers face off in North Dakota for 10 days in July.
Vaughn also achieved many firsts for the Madill Takedown Club. She became the club’s first girl to win a gold medal and to qualify for Fargo, in addition to being the only Southern Okie to stand atop the Junior Girls’ podiums in any weight bracket.
Vaughn’s Freestyle Record showed her dominating her opponent with a Tech Fall and improving on that with a Pin in under a minute: • Round 1: Win - TF 13-2 (3:27)
• Round 2: Win - F (0:56) In the aftermath of Vaughn’s stunning achievement, her mother Gina shared this about her performance practice, “This season Gage has had some struggles moving up to Juniors from Cadet. This weekend, winning gold has rekindled her excitement for wrestling. With purpose and effort, she looks forward to improving every time she steps on the mat.
“Coach Hammer’s support and optimism for Gage is wonderful. His willingness to be available for her wrestling needs is and will continue to be a great asset. We are extremely appreciative to have it.”
Vaughn joined the Madill Takedown Club just 3 weeks before the Freestyle State Championship. She and Coach Peter Hammer got to work quickly making the adjustments Vaughn needed to nab the gold.
According to Coach Hammer, “The interesting thing about Gage is that she is one of the few wrestlers I’ve met that’s incredibly humble about her natural talent. She is also one of the few that will outwork her competition knowing that hard work beats talent in the long run. Talent can only go so far. Hard work will catch it and suplex it. The amount of sweat equity she put into her 3 weeks with me was the reason she made her wins happen. She put in the effort, even driving all the way from Caddo to Madill. I am elated for her.”
All of the coaches and board members of the Madill Takedown Club are excited for Gage’s future and what she will accomplish at the USMC Junior Nationals.
To prepare for Fargo, the club will continue to run their 5-month long Freestyle & Greco practice, which ends on July 31, 2025.
The Madill Takedown Club is revolutionizing youth wrestling for success on and off the mat. They believe in a unique training approach that promotes success in life for your children. The Club recognizes that performance depends on mindset… anyone’s performance depends on how they think. To that end, they believe that coaching in a functional way creates champion wrestlers AND improves critical thinking patterns that enable: productive self-belief, confidence, and the passionate lifelong pursuit of continuous improvement. Consequently, the Club fully integrates elements of Freestyle and Greco-Roman Wrestling with Folkstyle to turn youth wrestlers into unstoppable warriors come winter for District, Regionals and State competitions.
