B.A. Wrestler Jared Hill to Become a Sooner

By Mike Moguin
GTR Sports Writer

Jared Hill has an exciting future ahead on the mat. The Broken Arrow senior signed with the University of Oklahoma earlier this year. Hill chose Oklahoma over Arkansas-Little Rock and Campbell (a school in North Carolina).
“I’m very excited and happy to be able to continue to wrestle on the Division-I level and accomplish my goal of being a Division-I national champion, ‘ Hill said. “And I’m very excited to have the coaches and the training partners that the University of Oklahoma has to continue to make me the best I can be.”
Hill is thrilled about the teammates he’ll have once he arrives in Norman. 
“They have a lot of upcoming recruits,” he said of the Sooners. “My friend Caleb Tanner (a four-time state champion at Collinsville from 2017-20) goes there right now. I know that the tide is going to be switching soon. So, it’ll be a lot of fun and I like the atmosphere and everything.”
The Sooners tied Bedlam rival Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Tournament in early March at the BOK Center in Tulsa, which backs up Hill’s claim of the tide switching. 
“I wanted to stay home in Oklahoma and wrestle with my friends, get a good academic education, get a degree,” Hill said.
When it comes to wrestling, “I like that you put in what you put out. It is an individual sport – you vs. the other guy, I don’t have to depend on anybody else to do their job for me to win and I like that a lot. I’m accountable for everything and if I work hard, I’ll be able to see the results,” Hill said. 
“I feel like I’m very technical and whenever I’m wrestling my best, I can put good moves together and flow from one move to the next,” he said. “I feel like that’s what makes me stand out from the rest.”
Having wrestled since age four, Hill moved to Broken Arrow with his family from Jenks when he was in eighth grade. He has been grateful to be part of the Tiger wrestling program. 
“I have a couple of fun matches I like to look back on,” he said. “Last year in Chicago in a dual team tournament, I went 4-0 and wrestled some good matches there.”
Unfortunately, Broken Arrow’s hopes to win state for a third straight year in both the individual and duals came up short. The Tigers took fourth at the state tournament with 107 points as four wrestlers, including Hill (145 pounds), finished runner-up after losing a 3-2 decision to Teague Travis of Stillwater. 
The other BA runners-up were juniors Christian Forbes (106), Jordan Cullors (126) and senior Emmanuel Skillings (220), who was a state champion his sophomore and junior seasons. 
Stillwater won the team championship with 159 points. 
At dual state, which took place two weeks later (March 13) in Enid, Broken Arrow was eliminated by Bixby 35-33 in the semifinals. 
Nevertheless, Hill said he is extremely grateful to have been able to wrestle for the Tigers. “Broken Arrow has great coaches,” Hill said. “Coach Rodney Jones has done so much for us, it’s truly amazing. Since COVID, five tournaments on our schedule got changed and he worked hard at giving us matches and scheduled duals and tournaments and doing everything he could for us.
“He’s been telling us to keep training and stay ready, even whenever a tournament or dual got canceled, he would say “D.W.I.,” which means “Deal With It” and just move on and keep training.”  
In closing, he said, “Boomer Sooner.”