Caddo female wrestler wins state title

Growing up as the daughter of a former wrestler, Caddo’s Gage Vaughn followed the same path as Durant standout Addison Polk through the Durant youth wrestling program. And much like Polk, Vaughn reached last week’s high school wrestling state tournament in Oklahoma City.

Although Polk came up short of placing in her division, the Caddo grappler’s magical season reached the ultimate destination as Vaughn captured a state championship in her first try as a freshman.

She scored a 6-1 decision win over Adrianna Chronister of Stilwell in the Class 5A 135-pound championship to wrap up the year with a perfect 19-0 record in high school competition, which until the last year or so appeared to be just a pipe dream for the Caddo student.

After watching Gage have tremendous success working up through the youth ranks, her father David got with Caddo school administration about representing the school in competition once she reached the high school ranks.

And the rest is definitely history.

“Wrestling has always been kind of a fit for her,” David said. “I wrestled in high school at Durant and introduced her to it back in 2016 or 2017. She had some success at her very first tournament and placed at little league state that first year.

“I helped Chaz Polk with the youth program in Durant and he played a big part in the coaching side of it with Gage, just like Addison. As we watched the sport grow on the girl’s side we felt like even as a seventh and eighth grader like she could compete at the high school level. Things just started clicking after that.”

Before she ever wrestled her first high school match as a Lady Bruin, Vaughn was far from new to success outside of the school events.

She won the prestigious Tulsa Nationals, was runner- up at the United State Junior Open Championship and was runner-up in the 30-girl junior high All-State tournament after winning the event the previous two years.

Vaughn competed individually for Caddo in solid tournaments at Inola, Madill and Sand Springs throughout the winter season and won all three convincingly.

In fact, after giving up points in her first match of the year, Vaughn shutout every other opponent up the state finals when she yielded a single escape point. That resulted in a perfect 19-0 season record for the freshman, but even more impressive was 17 straight matches in which she gave up nary a point.

At the state tournament last week, Gage was blanking Zoe Zucca of Cleveland before scoring a 5:25 fall victory in round one and then dispatched Vian’s Avery Richey for a 7-0 decision in the semifinals.

“To only give up points in your first match of the season and last match of the season is a pretty awesome accomplishment,” David Vaughn commented. “Outside of the state tournament, her toughest event was the Sand Springs tournament. She beat a previous state runner-up, state placer and a three-time Kansas state placer that ended up winning state this year. She caught a lot of people’s attention that weekend.

“She has a bright future if she keeps working hard. The more success you have in this sport, the bigger the target becomes on your back. We just want her to have fun with it and see where it takes her.”

For now that will take her to the softball diamond where she competes for the ultra-successful Lady Bruin program as well. But with a state championship under her belt, college wrestling scholarship offers from fledgling women’s programs all over the country could be in her future.