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Saturday, December 1, 2007
Wrestling Grapple With Sanctioning
Western Arkansas, AR
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By: Bob Kelly
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Photo(s) By: Tom Ewart
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Ancient Sport Finally Growing In Popularity
One of the most ancient sports – and one of the newest in Arkansas high school activities – has blossomed in less than two years on the mats of high schools throughout the state.
Wrestling – tracing its roots back perhaps as many as 20,000 years and one of the formative sports of the Olympics – has become the hottest new high school sport. It offers competition in weight classes from 103 pounds to the Heavyweight division (216-285 pounds) and gives athletes of every size another platform for performance and the opportunity to excel.
A dedicated group of wrestling supporters enlisted the assistance of Little Rock insurance man and youth athletics supporter Greg Hatcher, and the push for wrestling at the high school level began. Offering wrestling mats to the first 40 schools (at $9,000 a pop) to encourage participation, Hatcher and the supporters hoped to obtain Arkansas Activities Association sanctioning for wrestling for the 2007-2008 school year. He was told, however, if he could get 40 committed schools, the AAA would sanction the sport in the 2008-2009 season.
“We are very fortunate in Arkansas to have a great many athletic directors at schools who take what I call the “Heroic Approach,” Hatcher said. “They are committed to their students, to competition and their thinking is ‘I’ll do it and we’ll overcome the problems if they occur down the road.’ Without them, we would not have had the number of schools committed and the sport sanctioned for next year.”
Bentonville High School coach Bill Desler led the Tigers to the first state team title last year, crowning seven state champions and five runner-ups in various weight classes. Desler has the makings of what he hopes to be another state championship team with a squad that is led by five of those state champions.
Sean Sullivan, who won the 103 pound title as a sophomore, will bump up to 112 pounds this year while junior Cody Conklin, winner at 152 last year, will move up to 160. Christian Schuler will slot into the 152 pound hole and could challenge for the state crown as a junior. Torrey Garrison, winner at 171 last year, will try for a second straight title at that weight while junior Hunter Stuck will turn heads at 189, replacing graduated state champ Zeid Khalaf. Nick Stewart, who won the title last year at 215, beefed up for football and will wrestle this year at the heavyweight slot while Josh Anderson, titlist at heavyweight last year while weighing 216, will drop into the 215 slot vacated by Stewart.
Other Tigers expected to challenge for state crowns this year include Dakota Smith, fifth last year at 112, Devin Johnson, third last year at 119 and Adam Irons, who finished second last year as a freshman at 125. Colton Steen, a junior this year, finished second at 135 last year and looks to improve one position.
With more competition as more schools field wrestling programs and with the experience gained last year by those programs in their first years, wrestling fans will see more close and exciting competition. Many wrestlers have already taken advantage of the new wrestling academy begun in Little Rock by four-time NCAA national champion and 12-year assistant coach at Oklahoma State University, Pat Smith. Smith also provides an opportunity for wrestlers to share his knowledge with the twice-monthly clinics and teaching sessions he holds in Northwest Arkansas.
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