Cancellation of Wrestling Tourney a Major Blow to Community

The Geary Invitational Wrestling Tournament couldn’t out-grapple COVID-19, so officials made the tough decision to cancel the event for only the second time in its 77-year history.

Todd Glasgow, superintendent at Geary Public Schools, said the tournament has deep roots in the wrestling community and is viewed as the oldest and toughest wrestling tournament in the nation and has quite a reputation.

COVID-19 precautions, size of the gym, and expectations of what would have to be done to try and keep it going are all factors that led to the cancellation of the tournament, he said.

Other tournaments such as the Mid-America Nationals, Chuck West Invitational, and Perry Tournament have also been canceled this year, he said.

“For us to cancel it this year was a huge deal,” said Glasgow. “We knew it was going to be a challenge. We were just hoping we would see a decline in COVID numbers maybe by the time it came around to the first of the year.”

Things such as cutting down the number of teams so that only Oklahoma teams competed, bringing in certain teams on certain days, and cutting the days in half were all taken into consideration to keep the tournament going.

“With all these options, it comes down to, what’s the Geary Tournament going to look like,” Glasgow said. “If we do all that, we get to the point of, it's not the Geary Tournament.”

With other sports tournaments still taking place, the option for a postponement was not possible as it would interfere with other events.

Geary Schools has decided to keep everyone’s best interests, health, and safety in mind, and canceling the event was looked at as the best decision, Glasgow said.

“With everything in 2020 from March until now, there’s been a lot of uncertainty on what would be for a lot of things. We had a lot of talks on ways to be able to have our event,” said Matt Kennedy, head wrestling coach at Geary Public Schools. “When the season started in early December and several tournaments around the state had canceled, it made it a little more difficult to be certain on how we could make it work. It’s very unfortunate, but it’s the position we’re in.”

Students in Geary have not yet gotten to compete in any way as they have been on virtual learning since the end of Thanksgiving Break.

Kennedy said that his wrestlers have been staying active in creative ways for when the time comes, and they are more than ready to get back to competing.

“I know they’ll be more than glad when we are able to get back to it,” Kennedy said.

A snowstorm in 1988 was the only other time the tournament was canceled, so this news has left many disappointed.

“It’s unfortunate. Unfortunate not only for our wrestlers but unfortunate for teams all around the state that would have attended,” Kennedy said.

However, while the school is disappointed in the cancellation, the community of Geary has also been affected.

“It’s a big deal in the community. We have a lot of people involved who help out with the tournament,” Glasgow said. “Not only helping with wrestling but also our hospitality room. Some of our workers come from the community to help with tables and things.”

With this event bringing in people from all over the nation such as New Jersey and Texas, Geary Mayor Bobby Allen said the town will see a big impact.

With COVID already bringing about struggles for local businesses, the event brings plenty of foot traffic to the town, so the cancellation will have an effect on the city financially, especially with the restaurants, Allen said.

“We don’t have any motels or hotels, so that may affect some of the surrounding cities where a lot of the people stay at whenever they come to the event,” Allen said. “About the only way it affects us is probably with the restaurants.”

Even with the cancellation, however, those at Geary Public School haven't let it affect them too hard and they are already looking ahead to next year, Glasgow said.

“It’s like anything, you have that initial disappointment that you’ve just got to figure out and move on,” Glasgow said. “We’ll plan for bigger and better next year and go from there.”