On the weekend of March 21, 2025, the Club hosted three International Gold Medalists in the Madill High School Wrestling Room.
Themission?Toworkwith the Club’s Folkstyle coaches on cross-functional Freestyle and Greco now that Folkstyle season is over, and “Freco” season has begun.
It’s the perfect scenario for training up Madill’s current and next generation of youth wrestlers. Madill was once THEschoolinsouthernOklahoma known for wrestling.
That reputation has diminished over the years, even as the Madill High School girls are breaking school records and personal bests this year with state placers in Madelyn Ritchie and Anglena Mendiola, as well as other high-performing state qualifiers in Morgan Walls and Triston Barnes.
It’s been years though since Madill has produced a state champ. And THAT has been a sore spot among locals for more than a minute. Fortunately, the locals no longer have to wait with bated breath for change.
The Club is out to restore Madill Wrestling’s winning legacy and to give Madill youth a massive springboard for future successes on and off the mat. For the Club, the Ws will come… as long as the focus remains on uplifting each wrestler to achieve their personal best. For the Club, improving mindset and peak performance with technique go hand-in-glove.
Upon hiring Coach Peter Hammer, the Assistant Coach&TechnicianatMadill ISD, to be the Club’s Head Coach of Freestyle & Greco… the Club not only hired a competing International 6x Gold Medalist and Costa Rican National Champ, they got Hammer’s network of International Gold Medalists who are interested in Madill getting back to their former glory.
Because of this, the Club hosted Mirzo Khayitov (6x Gold Medalist & National Champ of Uzbekistan & Bronze Medalist at the 2024 Bill Farrell in New York) and Assylzhan Yessengeldi (3x Gold Medalists & National ChampofKazakhstan,2xSilver Medalist at Asian Championships, Bronze Medalist at U20 Worlds).
Along with Coach Hammer, both have wrestled in theCowboyRTCandbothare internationally recognized currently. All three placed Top 20 in the World at the World Championships last year in Tirana, Albania.
Most recently, Khayitov took Silver at an Invitational World All-Star Tournament, Yessengeldi took the Silver Medal at the U23 World Championships, and Hammer was the Pan-American Olympic Alternate to the 2024 Paris Olympics. All are focusing on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The cherry on top, as if this couldn’t get any better for Madill Wrestling?
Everyone was under the watchful eye of local hero, Roger Frizzell. Frizzell is in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a 4x NCAA Finalist for Oklahoma University, winner of multiple medals in US and World Freestyle Championships,anda3xOK State Champion.
The collective hardware and years of real-time experience currently working in the Madill Wrestling Room is huge. Yet, all of it was completely under the radar, as the four men trained three high school students and two of the Club’s highly respected folkstyle coaches and hometown heroes, Rio Zamora (Co-Head Folkstyle Coach and former UCO standout) and Scott Clement (Asst. Coach).
Training was also open to high school members of the club. 2024 and 2025 State-QualifierTristonBarnestook full advantage of what is sure to be every high-school wrestler’s dream; that is, rolling with international gold medalists. Joining Triston were Brylan and Rylend Slover from Tuttle and Jake Bohannon of Ada, proving that word is getting out beyond Madill.
As most of Madill was glued to their TVs for March Madness(NCAABasketball) and even March “Matness” (NCAA Wrestling), the mix of wrestlers in the wrestling room were creating perspiration puddles as they taught and learned about American technique and conditioning mixed with the exacting Russian School of Technique.
By Saturday night, the group learned that Khayitov’s training partner and protege Dean Hamiti (OK State)wonthe174lbs.NCAA title by defeating 2x NCAA Champ, Keegan O’Toole (Missouri).
What might be the teleological end outside of these medalists vying for the podium at the Pan American Championships in May, or other International Championships?
The ultimate end goal is to pour all of this knowledge into the youth wrestlers of Madill, who will be graduating to Madill Middle and High School. This has always been the vision of the Madill Takedown Club. The Club has been at the forefront of quality Folkstyle wrestlers feeding into the Madill ISD system.