The Skiatook Bulldogs high school wrestling team traveled to Cleveland on December 15th and 16th for the Joe Cole Classic and came away with the second-place finish and two individual champions. Skiatook with 242.5 team points finished behind Comanche which had 266.5 team points. Skiatook sent 10 kids to the semifinals but only came away with 3 in the finals. Heavy Weight Dylon Carnagey 4-0 (Sr. 5-1) and 220lb Korbin McLaughlin 4-0 (Jr. 6-0) came away with first place finishes and 145lb Cougar Andersen 3-1 (Fr. 4-2) placed second. The Bulldogs had 7 wrestlers that made the consolation finals. Finishing in third place were 106lb Kyle Bowman 2-2 (Fr. 4-2), 113lb Trey Bowman 2-2 (Jr. 3-3), 126lb Josh Taylor 3-1 (Fr. 5-1), 152lb Austin Johnson 6-1 (Sr. 8-1), 160lb Hunter Hall 6-1 (Fr. 8-1) and 170lb Brian Pollard 5-1 (Fr. 6-2). Blake Watkins 3-2 (Jr. 4-3) at 182lbs finished in fourth place.

Korbin McLaughlin wrestled four times during the Joe Cole Classic winning all four bouts by fall with three of the pins coming in the first period. In the second round the Bulldog made short time of Hunter Johnson (Sapulpa) by pinning the Chieftain in an impressive 11 seconds putting him in to the quarterfinals. The next victim for McLaughlin was Berryhill’s J.C. Ford. The Skiatook Grappler had to work a little harder this time but pinned the Ford late in the second period putting him the semifinals. Jared Galli (Jenks) step out on the mat thinking he could knock off McLaughlin to go to the finals but Korbin had nothing to do with Galli as he pinned him late in the first period putting him in the finals match against Walter Soto (Sallisaw). McLaughlin wasn’t going to be denied the championship as he pinned Soto in 25 seconds putting him on top of the podium for back to back high school championships. McLaughlin is no stranger to the Joe Cole Classic as he has also won the gold medal in all three of his junior high years. The Bulldog has won this tournament five consecutive years as a junior high and high school wrestler.


