Championship Wrestling Team Finishing on top

Gentry wrestlers take first-ever state title

— With a young team and a new coach, the Gentry wrestling team surprised both their opponents and themselves, coming away with their first state title on Saturday.

“I’d never seen wrestling in my life” before coaching the sport in Gentry this year, Coach Alonzo Pettigrew said to Gentry supporters when the team arrived back at the High School on Sunday. “My senior wrestlers were a huge help. Robert Henderson led, and (his teammates) let him. I leaned on Robert heavy until I figured it out,” he said.

Gentry’s wrestling program is in its fourth year, and Pettigrew, a football coach, found himself head coach when Nika West resigned to take a coaching position with Rogers Heritage High School.

With the help of senior wrestlers and volunteer coach Daryl Knight, who coached wrestling whileserving on the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Pettigrew led his grapplers to state competition and to a first-ever state championship for the team.

“Now, I love it,” Pettigrew said of the sport. “It’s second behind football.”

Gentry won its first Class 1A-5A title while threetime defending champion Central Arkansas Christiansettled for sixth place. The Pioneers led 181-161 after the quarterfinals en route to their 200-188 victory over Little Rock Christian.

“We took care of our business inthe early rounds,” Pettigrew said. “I thought our guys did a fantastic job of going out there and setting the pace and jumping out early.”

One of those setting the tone for the Pioneers was Henderson, who defeated Vinnie Osmun of North Pulaski at 189 pounds, to win his second state wrestling title.

The Pioneers also got a lift from the upset victory of Kolby Rankin at 140 pounds. Rankin defeated North Pulaski’s Tony Mongno Jr., who won a state title last year at 130 pounds, in the final to give Gentry one of its three state champions. Rankin also beat Arkansas School for the Blind’s Eric Yarberry, who was the winner at 125 pounds last year.

“That takes a lot, to beat two state champions,” Pettigrew said.

Gentry Overcomes Injury

Things haven’t always gone right for the Gentry Pioneers wrestling team this season, but they fell into place last weekend.

Gentry overcame a recent injury to a top wrestler and another in midseason, but the Pioneers placed 10 among the top four in their respective weight classes.

Seth Johnson was lost for the season two weeks ago after suffering a dislocated kneecap in a tournament at Diamond, Mo. But Derek McCain (285), Henderson (189) and Kolby Rankin each came through with individual titles for Gentry.

Henderson moved back to Gentry this year, after attending Rogers Heritage a year ago. He attendedGentry two years ago. That return helped power the Pioneers, but they also got a lift from sophomore Tanner Coy, who finished third.

That may not sound like a huge accomplishment, but consider that he started wrestling eight weeks ago. Pettigrew said he went searching for a wrestler when his regular 160-pounder suffered an injury.

“We were looking around school and talked to Tanner,” Pettigrew said. “We did a little bit of talking to his mother and got her convinced.”

But the learning experience didn’t always go smoothly, Pettigrew said.

“For a month he was getting frustrated,” Pettigrew said. “He couldn’t understand some things, but after he learned, hewas awesome.”

"It's a great year," said Gentry senior Robert Henderson. "We started out with a new coach, and it all came together. We worked hard. We had a lot of help from Coach Knight and Coach Kip (Rankin), too. It was a great tournament," he said.

Nick Walker and Paul Boyd contributed to this story.

Sports, Pages 7 on 02/24/2010