Cameron Johnson gave himself one week off after successful a state championship with the Stillwater High soccer crew.
The star linebacker who was a state qualifier for final yr’s state championships wrestling crew lastly obtained again right into a full follow Monday. One day later, he was electrifying his soccer teammates as they sat in the pupil part at Pioneer Fieldhouse as a part of a 60-18 blowout dual win over Deer Creek.
Johnson was initially given the choice to take extra time earlier than returning to competing on the mat, and based on Stillwater head coach Ethan Kyle, the senior 215-pounder was going to take him up on that provide. But with solely three home duals on the schedule for the powerhouse Pioneers, the assistant coaches had been the ones making Kyle and Johnson take one other have a look at the lineup.
And it proved to be a superb alternative for Johnson to start out on a excessive observe with the Pioneers internet hosting the Antlers on homecoming evening.
He even known as his shot.
“I was gonna get gassed, so I tried to make it real quick,” Johnson stated. “I told them I was gonna be on the mat for a maximum of 30 seconds.”
In truth, Johnson broke extra of a sweat in the 10 minutes of warmups previous to the dual as he wanted simply 22 seconds on the mat earlier than strolling away with a fall.
“He’s gonna play a big part in our success this season,” Kyle stated. “He’s a very important piece. … It all boils down to what kind of sacrifices, what kind of discipline is he willing to take on for the next eight or so weeks. With his skill level and now the body in that weight class, he’s a dangerous dude. So I hope he seems hungry.”
Perhaps his grappling associate on Monday helped expedite Johnson’s return to the mat, as properly.
Both Johnson and Kyle referenced the soar Johnson can probably make this season with the infusion of switch AJ Heeg at 190 kilos.
Heeg is a current Oklahoma State signee and received two state particular person titles with the Edmond Memorial program after transferring from Illinois following his freshman yr of highschool. He is basically thought of a prime 50 nationwide prospect in the senior class.
“I’m looking forward to having a great partner in the room, and he’s gonna push me every day to be better,” Johnson stated. “I think it’ll be a great season for me.”
Johnson’s explosive method to his match was indicative of the total dual for Stillwater.
Only two matches on the evening went to a 3rd interval – and solely a kind of went the full six minutes of a highschool match.
In complete, Stillwater picked up six pins with Beric Jordan (120), Cael Hughes (138), LaDarion Lockett (157), Landyn Sommers (165) and Heeg successful by fall earlier than it obtained to Johnson’s 22-second match.
The Pioneers additionally picked up technical falls from Aydan Thomas (106), Sam Smith (126), JJ McComas (132) and Kael Voinovich (150), in addition to a serious determination by Mitchell Borynack at 144 kilos that was two factors shy of a fifth technical fall.
“If we had five technical falls, that’s like missing an entire pin. That’s points that you left on the board,” Kyle stated. “If you can tech a guy, it’s hard to say that you couldn’t pin him.
“So we’ll stress that, but at the same time, I don’t want be just a total goober of a coach. I’m not entirely mad when you win by 15 points. But it’s gonna be important in a dual meet setting like next week, there’s not gonna be very many points that you can miss. So it’ll be a lesson learned.”
Kyle was referencing the inaugural National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dual Classic that will probably be hosted at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Dec. 20-21, that can function a few of the nation’s prime wrestling groups. Programs from coast to coast will probably be converging on Stillwater to compete in the new vacation wrestling occasion, together with applications from New Jersey, Illinois and California, in addition to extra native flavors from Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado and handful of Oklahoma colleges.
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