Allison Hynes a Key Contributer in First Year of Tigers’ Girls Wrestling Program

By MIKE MOGUIN
GTR Sports Writer

Allison Hynes is among the top wrestlers in the debut season of Broken Arrow’s girls’ program.
Hynes, a junior who wrestles in the 117-pound weight class and sports an 18-1 record this year, took her bracket by storm last month at a tournament in Dallas, pinning her opponent just seconds into the championship final.
“I had five matches in Dallas on the varsity side,” she said. “I have good coaches, so it really helps, and they got me focused and warmed up well so I was able to wrestle good.”
Wrestling competitors in another state can be challenging, Hynes said.
“It puts a lot more pressure on you than seeing someone from (the local area), because you don’t really know who they are,” she said. “You don’t know most of the girls who wrestle or how long they’ve been wrestling.”
Hynes comes from a family grounded into the sport of wrestling. Her dad is a coach and she has a brother, Elijah, a sophomore, who wrestles for the Tiger boys. She considers herself a pretty calm wrestler. “I don’t do anything crazy. I wrestle smart,” she said.
What she likes most about the sport of course is “winning a lot. I just like all of it,” Hynes added. Her favorite move is the single leg.
Before Broken Arrow got its program underway this year, Hynes wrestled boys and won her share of bouts.
“I think wrestling guys has really helped,” she said. “If I had just wrestled girls, I don’t think I would ever be as good as I am. It just helped a lot.”
But you can bet she is excited that she now has a girls team she can be a part of.
“Everyone is doing really well this year and it’s really good for (Coach) Cassidy (Jasperson), who is an amazing coach. She is really excited.
“I really like (having Jasperson as a coach). especially because she can still wrestle and can still compete if she wants to,” Hynes said. “So I get to wrestle with her. I can wrestle around with her some and it just really helps.”
Hynes and her Broken Arrow teammates believe other schools, particularly in those in Class 6A and in the area, will launch some girls’ teams in the near future.
“A lot of schools are already talking about it,” she said. “Right after the news came out that we were starting a girls program, many other schools started theirs in Oklahoma. I expect it to keep on growing and I expect more schools to open up to it.”
Among those schools that have started a girls’ wrestling program is Claremore, where Kearanie Johnson, another top girls’ wrestler, competes. Hynes said that Johnson has been her toughest foe.
“She’s been wrestling just as long as I have and she works just as hard as I do, which helped. She just throws a lot,” Hynes said.
“I practiced with her last year some and we have wrestled twice this year,” she added.
And of course, Hynes is excited about the future of the new program.
“I think the girls that are wrestling here have a lot of potential and they all just want to be here, which helps a lot, and they all listen very well. They understand how to wrestle.”
“I’m expecting big things,” she added. “I think by next year, we’ll be even better than we are right now. We’re already showing our potential. I just expect us to keep growing and getting better.”
Tiger Quick Hits
Broken Arrow football players signed letters of intent to play college football back in December. As expected, offensive lineman Andrew Raym signed with the University of Oklahoma. But Miles Slusher flipped on his commitment. Having originally verbally commit to Oregon last summer, Slusher changed his mind and signed with the University of Arkansas.