Wrestlers head to Dual State

The Comanche wrestling team will be the underdogs this Saturday when they head to Enid for the Dual State Tournament. Though they are no strangers to Dual State, their streak was snapped last year when they didn’t qualify. With so many young wrestlers, for many of the Indians it will be their first time to wrestle in the tournament.

The Indians may have surprised some this year, winning their district in order to qualify in the first place.

“It’s a huge deal for us because we knew it was going to be a big task,” said Casy Rowell, head coach. “Just having a younger and inexperienced team, we knew we only had a few veterans and even those veterans are young. So, we were surprised by how well they wrestled. But, they worked hard and they’ve been doing the right things.”

And the team had not always seen success on the mat, but the coaches told them to be patient and keep working hard.

“We’ve been through a tough schedule and sometimes its hard to see the progress when you’re getting beat up,” Rowell said. “We were trying to constantly preach to them, just keep going, keep doing good and it will pay off, I promise. It’s coming.”

The success at the Madill tournament where Comanche placed second as a team and had some first-time winners and first-time placers helped give the Indians a boost in confidence.

“That just sparked up our energy going into districts,” Rowell said. “And, they’ve wrestled with a lot of confidence and good team atmosphere. I think our coaches did a good job too of matching up certain wrestlers and making sure we weigh in correctly. So, it was a full team effort that I thought was really good.”

At Dual State, No. 7 Comanche wrestles No. 2 seed and defending Dual State champion Blackwell in the first round.

“Blackwell is a highly-respected program, a top program every year for like the last 50 years,” Rowell said. “They’re a tough team, and we know what they bring and it’s a tough draw, but we kind of expected with our our season and the other teams that we’d be in this situation. Those other teams have juniors and seniors and are loaded and just high quality teams. We’re thankful to be one of those teams, but what we want to do is go in there and put up a fight. We’re looking at lineups and we’re seeing how we can work our lineup to make it as competitive as we can.”

The Indians are not going to just make an appearance and bow out gracefully.

“Wrestling is a sport where anything can happen,” Rowell said. “All it takes is just putting your shoulders down for one second for a pin, so we’re definitely not going to go in there with a defeated attitude. We’re going in there expecting to win. It’s a tough challenge ahead for sure.”

There is a new format at both Dual State and the state tournament this year. Dual State has been cut down from two days to one day and the state tournament has been expanded from two days to three days.

“I think its a little different with how you train,” Rowell said. “This week, we’re doing some things different with our training. We’re usually preparing to wrestle on that Friday, but with it just being on a Saturday, it gives us one extra day and it makes it a little bit of a challenge trying to prepare differently.”

It’s the same way with the state tournament.

“We’re going to have to look at our schedule and look at the the training days and how we are going to adjust practice,” Rowell said. “All that stuff makes a difference. This year will be different than any other year because it’s never been done this way before, so there could be some good to it. I kind of like the thought of getting it done in one day, but I also would like that mindset maybe at the regular state tournament, too.”

For their state tournament regional, the Indians will have a much closer trip that they did last year. In 2023, they travelled to Perry for the regional. This year, they stay inside Stephens County and go to Marlow. There will be wrestlers from 32 teams competing for five spots in each weight class to qualify for the state tournament.

“This year, I liked the way it went,” Rowell said. “At the end of the day, you’re going to have to beat somebody. You can look at it a million ways, but to get to state, you’re going to have to beat somebody. And then, if you want to place at state, you definitely have to beat somebody. It’s just that time of year where you can’t get too caught up on what’s on paper and get caught up in results. You don’t wrestle on paper, we’re trying to wrestle in real life. In real life, you can change that stuff. It’s about getting our minds right at the right time of year.”

Rowell also appreciates the fact of the regional being in Marlow which means they can sleep in their own beds and save the booster club money on hotels and food.

He likes where the team is at right now as the post season gets ready to begin.

“I think we’re right on track,” Rowell said. “The team’s feeling good and the energy’s good. I talked to them about the ups and downs during the season and we want to be up at this point with some big events coming up.”