Edmond North trio eyes Class 6A dual state wrestling title before heading to OU

EDMOND — Ricky Thomas had an interesting start to his wrestling career.

The Edmond North heavyweight doesn’t come from a wrestling family like a lot of star grapplers.

His introduction to the sport was different than most.

“I made a bet with my sister, so that’s how I kind of got started,” Thomas said. “If she wrestled, I would wrestle, and then I kind of kept with it and then she quit.”

Thomas was just a little kid when he got into wrestling, but he’s been hooked ever since.

Now a star at Edmond North, he won the Class 6A heavyweight state title last season.

He’ll continue his career at OU alongside two of his senior teammates, 138-pounder Hunter Hollingsworth and 175-pounder Jude Randall, but the trio has some business to take care of before then.

The 2024 dual state wrestling tournament is set for Friday and Saturday at Stride Bank Center in Enid. Classes 6A and 4A will wrestle Friday, while Classes 5A and 3A will compete Saturday. 

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Edmond North’s senior class has progressively gotten better the past four years. The Huskies advanced to the dual state semifinals in 2021 and 2022 before losing in the championship last season.

They’re confident they’ll get over the hump this time and win the school’s second dual state crown and first since 2013.

“I think we’re going to break some records,” Thomas said.

Edmond North is one of the top-ranked high school teams in the country.

The Huskies nearly won the state tournament last season, losing by just one point to Stillwater.

Overall, they have eight wrestlers who are either committed or signed with Division-I programs, and coach Andy Schneider said he has two seniors who are talking to college teams but remain undecided.

Hollingsworth, Randall and Thomas have helped create something special at Edmond North, and they hope to continue that in Norman.

“It’s just hard work every day,” Randall said. “I mean, you just got to love the sport. It’s all I really do. I got to love it every day and enjoy working hard, enjoy pushing myself and trying to get better every day. And Edmond North — great teammates, great atmosphere, great coaches. Just everything around Edmond North kind of pushes all of us to do the best we can.”

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Edmond North’s wrestlers are seemingly always training.

Those sessions unsurprisingly can get pretty rough.

“We grind every time we come in here,” Thomas said. “Either punching each other, making each other bleed, some sort of physical way. We’re getting after it every single day.”

Unlike Thomas, Randall — who placed second at 165 pounds at the state tournament last year — hails from a wrestling family.

His grandfather, Archie Randall, is one of the most successful high school coaches in state history. Now at Putnam West, he led El Reno to 11 state championships in 13 seasons before taking over at Oklahoma City University.

Jude’s dad, Zach, starred at Putnam City before continuing his career at OU, and Jude’s older brother, Jaxon, won two 170-pound state titles at Edmond North and is now at the University of Central Oklahoma.

“I was born into it,” Jude said. “I’ve been wrestling since I can even remember. It was mainly, my grandpa wrestled, then my dad wrestled and then my older brother wrestled, so I was like, ‘I’m next in line,’ so I started wrestling. My little brother has just started wrestling, too.”

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Like Randall, Hollingsworth was a state runner-up last season.

He competed at 132 pounds, which included Oklahoma State wrestler and former Stillwater star Cael Hughes, who won four state titles and went undefeated in high school.

Hollingsworth was the champion at 120 pounds as a sophomore. He defeated OSU wrestler and former Stillwater standout Sam Smith, the son of OSU coach John Smith, in a 6-1 decision in the state finals.

“Just a kid that never shies away from adversity,” Schneider said of Hollingsworth. “I think my favorite thing about Hunter is last season I think he could have switched weight classes and gone easy, but he made up his mind. He was going to go in the same weight class as Cael Hughes all year long.”

Hollingsworth didn’t shy away last season, and he and Edmond North aren't doing that this year either.

The Huskies have been thinking about dual state and the state tournament for a while, and they’re eager to hit the mat.

“We’ve been grinding, so I feel like we’re 100% ready this year,” Randall said.

Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @nicksardis. Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Edmond North wrestling trio eyes dual state title before heading to OU