COACH KIRBY WINS TITLE AT BEACH NATIONAL

Those who can’t do, coach. Unless it’s Travis Kirby, who does both. The Tahlequah High wrestling coach returned to the mat competitively last Saturday, traveling to North Carolina for the 2017 USA Wrestling Beach National Championships. Wrestling in two divisions for a total of 10 matches on the day, 31-year-old Kirby finished 8-2 to take fourth in the Senior 70-kilogram bracket and first in the Veteran light-weight bracket. “It was cool getting back into wrestling from a competitive standpoint,” said Kirby, who hadn’t competed in an organized wrestling match in eight years prior to Saturday. “It was a feeling that I haven’t felt in so many years. It was pretty neat to meet different people from around the country and experience a wrestling style I’ve never done before.” Unlike traditional freestyle or greco wrestling, Saturday’s Beach National was held outdoors and pitted grapplers against each other on sand rather than a mat. Boundary circles for the tournament had diameters of seven feet. Kirby, who wrestled at Bacone College (2006-09) and became a three-time national qualifier in folkstyle, noticed several challenges in wrestling on a sand surface. “It was a little daunting with the sun beating down on you and with it being so humid,” he said. “The sand got pretty hot, plus my legs aren’t use to walking on sand all day. But it wasn’t too bad. “I noticed a lot of people were wrestling with a greco style because leg attacks seemed to be harder on the sand. But I didn’t try to change up my style when I was out there. I took shots and was able to get to legs, and I think that helped me out. I’m pretty sure everything I scored on was off a leg attack.” The top three placers at each weight in the Senior division earned the opportunity to compete on the U.S. Beach World Team next fall at the Beach World Championships, which is expected to take place in Europe. Kirby, who finished fourth in his Senior bracket, will be the first alternate for the U.S. World team at 70 KG. A total of 14 wrestlers made up Kirby’s Senior bracket. After picking up a first-round win over Sean Donnelly (All Navy Wrestling) and then suffering a quarterfinals loss to Kevin Birmingham (Greensboro RTC), Kirby won three consecutive consolation matches to make the third-place bout. But he went on to fall against Austin Roper (Benedictine College) in the consolation championship to land in fourth place. “I get up there and I realize pretty quick that I’m the second oldest guy there,” Kirby noted, adding that many of the competitors in the Senior division were college athletes. “There was one guy in the Veterans division who was 35, and I’m pretty sure he was the only one that was older than me,” Kirby said with a laugh. “Having to wrestle all those matches back to back was a little difficult. The matches go by really fast because it’s just one three-minute period. My last two matches were probably within two minutes of each other.” The tournament had a record total of 206 entries among all the divisions, including 34 Senior men competitors. Kirby was one of just four entries in the Veterans division and had just one opponent in his light-weight bracket. In a best-of-three series for the title, he defeated Joseph Tortorici (Strizki Landing) in the first two matches to eliminate the need for a third. And due to the small field of competitors in the Veterans division, Kirby was given two additional exhibition matches which he also won. Kirby plans to continue his training this summer in preparation for a possible call-up for the U.S. World Team tryouts. As a head coach, he enters his second year with the Tahlequah wrestling program, which went 14-2 in dual meets last season and had two wrestlers (Julien Brownfield and Jakob Lyons) finish runner-up individually at the Class 5A State Tournament. Kirby also competed professionally in mixed martial arts from 2009-13 and won an Xtreme Fighting League title in 2012.

COACH KIRBY WINS TITLE AT BEACH NATIONAL

Photo Credit: Tahlequah High School Athletics

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