TUPATALK: Blast from the past look at wrestling

Note: Following is part of an E-E article from 2000 about the Bartlesville High wrestling team.

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Bartlesville High School’s wrestling team worked up a sweat Saturday at the Tulsa Union Takedown Tournament.

Actually, only part of the squad creased the mat.

Second-year head coach Brian Melchiori is still waiting for the bulk of his team to come out after they finished football last week.

In addition to the Bruin varsity, the Bartlesville junior high team, which is coached by Scott Reed, also took to the mat in the same tourney, garnering two championships and three second places.

How dominant was the Bartlesville junior high team? Two of the finals were between two Bruin wrestlers.

At 89 pounds, Randy Rush beat teammate David Harris for the title. And, Austin Constuble downed teammate Chris Donnell for the 155-pound championship.

In addition, Travis Tabor finished second at 137 pounds.

Other Bartlesville junior high wrestlers who placed were Scott Wanner, fourth in the heavyweight division; Tyler Wilson, fourth at 81 pounds; and Michael Neighbors, fourth at 105 pounds.

For the Bruin high schoolers, Brent Remington led the way with a second at 174 pounds.

D.J. Tabor took fourth at 135 pounds. Also competing for the high school team were Dustin Bloxom at 171 pounds, Dustin Angle at 145 and Tyler Wilson at 103.

Melchiori is expecting another 15 wrestlers to join practice today or sometime this week, including returning state qualifiers Mark Raymond and Brandon Benson.

Raymond is ranked as the top wrestler in the state at 215 pounds.

Benson is ranked near the top in the state in the middleweight (140 to 145) area.

“Mark has a tough role to fill,” Melchiori said. “Everybody is going to be going for him. He has everything to lose when he goes out. This is a new experience for him because he’s always been the underdog-type wrestler. I know he’s going to do everything he needs to go to get ready. Hopefully he can fill those shoes and that that and run with it. He didn’t place at state last year, but he’s considered the top wrestlers in his weight class among the returnees.”

Benson is moving up four or five weight classes after an extremely successful 1999 campaign.

“He’s grown a lot,” Melchiori said. “He’s another kid I’m not worried about as far as his preparation. I know he’s going to do everything he can as far as he can out of the practice room to put himself in that position.”

Remington has a shot also to be one of the state’s best but he was some work to do, the coach added.

“He has all the natural talent and ability to be state champion if he sets his mind to it and sets a goal to go undefeated and be a state champion,” Melchiori said.

At the Tulsa Union competition, Remington’s loss in the finals was a 2-0 decision to a Broken Arrow grappler rated as one of the top in the state, the coach added.Melchiori feels confident Remington, Raymond and Benson all should go to the state tournament and place there.

“After that, we’ve got some kids like Brad Mattix, who was close last year,” said Melchiori. “We got Dustin Angle back out and he’s a good addition to our program. If he does what it takes, he can succeed. He’s one of those kids who’s got to do more than anybody else to put himself in a position to go to the state tournament. If he does the things Coach (Flo) Gonzales and I teach him he’ll be on track.”

Another promising grappler is newcomer Drew Williams.

“He’s going to wrestle 189,” said Melchiori. “He’s a new kid in school and I’ve heard a lot of good things about him. He should be a great addition to our team.”

Melchiori believes the Bruins have at least half-a-dozen wrestlers with the potential to go to state this year.

“I really believe we’ve got six or seven kids as good as any in the other programs in the state,” he said.”

One of the biggest challenges again will be absorbing forfeit points at 112 and 119 pounds.

But, if the team develops as Melchiori hopes, it will be competitive despite that handicap.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: TUPATALK: Blast from the past look at wrestling