Madill qualifies four wrestlers for state

Madill finished with four state qualifiers with regional placings in OSSAA Regional Tournament action last week with three coming in the girls bracket.

Leading the way for the Lady Wildcats was sophomore Madelyn Ritchie in the 190-pound division as she claimed third place in the 5A West tournament.

Ritchie drew a bye in the opening round before a narrow 2-1 loss in the semifinals. She rebounded with a fall victory in two minutes and 27 seconds and then outscored Kurstynn Walker of Tuttle to notch the 8-5 decision in the third-place matchup.

Junior Morgan Walls added a fifth place showing at 170 pounds, winning three straight matches after an opening round fall defeat. Walls’ first two wins came in just 23 and 62 seconds before she posted a 6-5 hard-fought decision.

Walls lost a 3:50 pin fall verdict in the following match to drop to the fifth-place contest where she downed Dehlia Harrison from Tuttle in a 1:18 fall victory.

At 235 pounds, sophomore Madison Barrow got off to a fast start with back-to-back fall wins in 4:20 and 4:34, but suffered two straight defeats. In her final qualifying chance, Barrow stopped J’Niya Mays-Morrison of Douglass in 3:07.

In boys’ action, sophomore Triston Barnes was the lone Madill state qualifier, taking fifth in the 113-pound bracket to push his season record to 27-6.

Barnes won an 11-0 major decision in his opening match ahead of a 3:47 fall defeat in round two. He bounced back for consecutive fall wins in 1:53 and 1:21 to reach medal contention.

A 4:25 fall loss dropped Barnes to the fifth-place matchup where he stopped Christian Bermea of Clinton for a 5-2 decision to advance.

The OSSAA state tournament is slated to begin on Thursday at State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City.