Wildcats start 2020 strong with fifth place finish at Pauls Valley Invitational

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  • Matt Caban • The Madill Record Seniors John Venable (center left) and Coty Tweety (center right) grapple during takedown drills at a Madill High School Wildcat wrestling practice Jan. 13 while Head Coach David Love (far right) looks on. The team began the 2020 portion of its schedule with a fifth place finish at the Pauls Valley Invitational Tournament Jan. 10-11.
    Matt Caban • The Madill Record Seniors John Venable (center left) and Coty Tweety (center right) grapple during takedown drills at a Madill High School Wildcat wrestling practice Jan. 13 while Head Coach David Love (far right) looks on. The team began the 2020 portion of its schedule with a fifth place finish at the Pauls Valley Invitational Tournament Jan. 10-11.
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The new year brought a new look of sorts for the Madill High School wrestling team as they finished fifth out of 17 teams at the Pauls Valley Invitational Tournament Jan. 10 and 11.

The Wildcats scored 118.50 points to finish behind Marlow

(280.00), El Reno (200.00), Carl Albert (181.50) and Newcastle

(133.50).

MHS started the season with a 2-7 dual record. It was the first tournament of the season.

Head coach David Love said he was impressed with the top five finish.

“Well the overall effort was much better,” he said. “You know we came in fifth out of seventeen teams which is tremendous for this team. It was pretty great.”

Love said the teams that finished ahead of the Wildcats are among the best in the state.

“The teams that came in ahead of us were pretty darn tough,” he said. “Talking about Marlow, a top five team; El Reno, a 5A team. Uh, Newcastle who we wrestle tomorrow night.”

Love said the Pauls Valley Tournament marked the first time this season the team fielded wrestlers at all 14 weight classes.

“We weighed in 14 guys,” Love said. “That’s the first time this year. We’re real excited about that and the points showed.”

Love added that today people say the most important thing is showing up.

“And we showed up,” he said. “And we came in ahead of 12 teams because we did.”

At 106 pounds, Chris Bennett finished in fourth place with an 0-2 mark. Elijah Connelly finished fifth at 113 pounds with a 1-2 record.

Wylbie Roberts went 2-3 to take sixth place at 120 pounds.

Coby Sandefur finished in fourth place at 132 pounds with a 2-2 record.

Love said Sandefur had a tough match in the finals.

“I thought maybe we could’ve done a little bit better but real proud of him. He did a good job”

At 145 pounds, Dylan Mc-Cullough got sixth place after going 2-0. McCullough, who is working back from an injury, took medical forfeits for his last three matches.

John Venable finished second in the 182-pound weight class with a 2-1 mark.

Love said Venable looked great at the tournament.

“He looked like a beast out there,” Love said. “He’s tremendous for us. “John just hadn’t had much time out on the mat. He was injured coming out of football and to see him get out there and get second was great. He wrestled an incredibly talented Marlow kid in the finals. Marlow’s got such a strong program. It was

such a great match, 6-2. And what I loved about it was we got better even losing that match. We are better today because we wrestled that match.”

Coty Tweedy finished in third place at 195 pounds with a 4-1 record.

“He did a great job,” Love said. “You know Coty coming off that wreck. He’s getting better all the time. Coty, you know is such a joy to watch him wrestle. Then see him come out there and have such great success is really good. He got beat by, I think a Marlow kid in the semis.”

Griffon Williams won second place with a 3-0 record in his first action of the 2019-2020 season.

“We chose not to wrestle in the championship finals,” Love said. “We’re saving that shoulder ‘cause that was [his] first weekend out and [he[ wrestled three pretty hard matches and I knew it was real sore. Real proud of Griffon. He’s getting that confidence back.”

The remaining MHS wrestlers competing in Pauls Valley are listed by weight class along with with their records:

126 pounds - Stevie Love 0-2

138 pounds - Kaleb Sweeney 1-2

145 pounds – Jacob Massey (who competed as a nonscorer) 1-2

152 pounds Tito Martinez 0-2

160 pounds Edwin Recio 0-1

170 pounds Trevor Merritt 0-2

182 pounds Cade Barker (who competed as a nonscorer) 0-2

220 Axzel Mendoza 0-2

Looking ahead

The squad hosted the Newcastle Pacers on Jan. 14 for the 2019-2020 MHS Wrestling Homecoming. Results were not available as of press time.

Love was pumped up ahead of the team’s match against Newcastle.

“We’re excited about the dual tomorrow night against Newcastle,” he said. “It’s going to be huge. They don’t like us. We don’t like them. They’re probably favored in ten out of 14 matches. We’re gonna see if we’re tough enough to give the people a show.”

Love also shared some straight talk ahead of the team’s Jan. 13 practice.

“The last time I walked out of that gym I was sick ‘cause we looked terrible against Plainview,” he said. “I did a terrible job coaching. I did a terrible job preparing them for the match. Terrible job starting the season but I think we’ve gotten better the last couple of weeks. I’m feeling better about it. I’m looking to walking back in there and the giving the people something they can be proud of.”

The Wildcats return to Pauls Valley for a district dual later today, Jan. 16.