Cashion’s Martinez, Browning making return trips to state

It’s nothing new for Carlos Martinez to qualify for state.

It is for him to go in as a regional champ.

The Cashion junior accomplished that on Saturday when he pinned Prague’s Rylan Harvey in the first period of their 175-pound championship at the Class 3A west regional in Watonga.

Martinez heads to state with a 25-1 record with his lone loss coming in overtime of a championship bout in a Texas tournament.

He’s one of two Cashion qualifiers this year along with 113-pound sophomore Cale Browning, who was the runner-up in his bracket.

This makes Martinez a three-time qualifier.

He was one of Cashion’s first two qualifiers in the program’s history - along with Matthew Stockton when he reached state in 2024 as a freshman.

That was at 157 pounds. He got back last year at 165 pounds.

Martinez won one match in each of those two trips.

He went 5-0 in the regional, which started with a 31-second pin against Joseph Ivy of Cordell.

He followed that up with a 21-6 technical fall against Jonathan McGee of Mangum and pinned Hennessey’s Jameson Ladwig in 2:43 of their quarterfinal bout.

Martinez had no issues with Lincoln Christian’s Ethan Uyetake as he earned a 14-3 major decision in the semifinals.

Martinez needed just 1:16 to pin Harvey.

Browning is now a twotime qualifier.

He received a bye into the quarterfinals and his opponent there, Rocket Rodriguez of Marlow, defaulted due to injury at the 4:06 mark.

Browning garnered a 9-4 decision over Derek Perkins of Chandler in the semifinals before being pinned by Salina’s Caleb Kelley in the championship.

Browning (27-9) will match up with Bodie Swords of Tonkawa in the quarterfinal round of the state tournament.

The tournament’s wrestle- in matches begin at 6 p.m. Thursday at OG&E Coliseum. The first round matches begin at 9 a.m. Friday.

Martinez won’t know his first-round foe until after the wrestle-in matches (those pit fifth-place wrestlers from one regional against fourth-place finishers from the other…with exceptions).

Walker Wedel of Heritage Hall will take on Landon Wilde of Perry in a wrestle-in match for the right to take on Martinez in the opening round.

Martinez and Browning led Cashion to 83.5 points, good for 11th place out of 32 teams in the regional.