The Wolverines picked up a pair of dual wins against Rogers High and Rogers Heritage and surprised coach Aaron Wise a bit.

"It's not much of a secret our tougher wrestlers are in the lighter weights," Wise said. "If you looked at Rogers, Heritage, Fayetteville, Har-Ber and those other schools, it seems to me their tougher kids are the upper weights. That's where we've struggled a little bit.

"But we had some guys wrestle really well. I was worried about some of those upper weights against Rogers. We lost matches, but we kept them close at 160 and 170 with decisions, and that helped us win the dual."

West also benefited from getting heavyweight Gunner Coppinger, the defending 6A-7A state champion, back in the lineup. He was academically ineligible first semester.

West will head to Catoosa, Okla., this weekend for a tournament that will be as tough as any event it will attend, Wise said.

"I said if we combined every single kid in Arkansas into just one state tournament, it still wouldn't be as tough as Catoosa," Wise said.

West also had some good individual performances last weekend at the Monett (Mo.) Invitational, picking up two second-place finishes and a third against some stout competition.

Zack Ireland (126) and Daryl Easterling (132) each finished second, while Charles Easterling (113) took third.

Wise said each of those wrestlers lost to Missouri state medalists.

"I try to tell these kids they aren't just good for Arkansas," Wise said. "You're pretty good wrestlers, and you could place in other states. That speaks to how far we've come as a state and especially here in Northwest Arkansas in tournaments out of state."
