Cast of favorites in position to win state wrestling titles in Class 6A, 5A

The 14th annual Centennial Bank High School State Wrestling Tournament kicked off at Jack Stephens Center on Friday.

By Kyle Sutherland | Photo by Tommy Land

The 14th annual Centennial Bank High School State Wrestling Tournament kicked off at Jack Stephens Center on Friday, the first of two days for the boys beginning with the first round through the quarterfinals.

Class 6A began the day in the morning, followed by Class 1-4A and 5A in the afternoon. 

Two of the heavy favorites coming in were Cabot and Rogers Heritage, per tournament director Greg Hatcher. Five-time defending 6A champion Bentonville, one of two teams to score over 200 points in last year’s state tournament, had 12 wrestlers qualify with three top seeds in Zander Payne (126), Connor Kneesaw (160), and Kenneth Lewis (182).

Heritage got off to a great start Thursday during in the girls’ tournament as Skylur Lewis won the 6A state title for the second consecutive year and was named Outstanding Wrestler for all of Classes 1-6A. The War Eagles came in with 12 wrestlers, including defending individual champion Zayne Lewis who won the 106-pound class last season. 

Lewis moved up to the 120-pound class this year as the top seed. Cabot had 11 wrestlers qualify with top seeds including Will Beavis (285), CJ Dye (132), and Cole Eason (170).

In Class 5A, back-to-back champion Greenwood hopes to return to northwest Arkansas with a third trophy to add to the case. The Bulldogs brought nine wrestlers including defending champions Hayden Rofkahr (138) and Tyler Crossno (220), also a standout football defensive lineman. Rofkahr is going for his third title in four years while Crossno is looking to win his third in a row. 

Mountain Home and Van Buren are two who could challenge the Bulldogs. Mountain Home returns defending champion Austin Callies (152) while Van Buren has 2021 champions Shiloh Summers (120) and Trevor Edelen (132). Also one to keep an eye on from Class 5A is 

Lake Hamilton star running back Justin Crutchmer of Lake Hamilton (170) and Hayden Rofkahr of Greenwood (138) is looking to clinch his third title in four years. All of the aforementioned wrestlers have moved onto Saturday’s semifinal round.

One who will be worth watching is Landry Beeching (182) from Sylvan Hills who came into the tournament with a 20-3 record this season as the top seed for his weight class and all three of his losses coming to out of state opponents. 

He has had an impressive turnaround to his career after starting 2-6 as a freshman and finishing the year 29-6 in the 170-pound class. Things continued to trend up from there notching 33 wins as a sophomore as he continued to improve. He moved up to the182-pound class in 2021 and finished 34-1 falling only to the eventual state champ by just a point, 7-6, to finish third in the state tournament. He eclipsed his 100th career victory back in January.

“Even though I lost that match [last year], I felt like that was the best performance I’ve done,” Beeching said. “I think it showed the caliber I could wrestle to. My goal is always to wrestle to that caliber or more, but sometimes I do not do it. That always tells me I need to take a moment to reset and just do it so I can go out there and perform better.”

Bears hed coach Dusty Clark raved about his development throughout his high school career and is very proud of the strides Beeching has made.

“Landry had previously done some Ju-Jitsu and other stuff, but the main thing with him was learning how to wrestle and keep his back away from the mat,” Clark said. “He worked on different techniques the last few years on the things he needed to improve on and this year it is like just let him go. You can give him suggestions, but he already knows what to do.”

Beeching had to wait a little longer than expected to get on the mat Friday due to a forfeit in the first round by his opponent. That matched him up in the quarterfinals against Sheridan’s Hunter Fernandez, who won by fall in the first round at 2:50 over Lake Hamilton’s Jackson Stone.

Fernandez gave him a tough match, but Beeching was able to win by technical fall at the 6:00 mark. 

Moments after the match while Landry was catching his breath, he talked about his journey from ninth grade until now has prepared him for the final tournament of his career.

“My team and community that surrounds me has given me a lot,” Beeching said. “I always try to reflect back on that what they have done for me. When I am out there wrestling it is not just me, but also the people who have helped me in my past. I don’t look at it as me being out there by myself, my community is with me.”

Beeching will take on Izic Clenney of Lake Hamilton in the semifinals Saturday morning with a trip to the finals on the line. 

Here are the current team scores and updated brackets.