Saturday, March 6th 2021, 7:28 pm
Skiatook seniors Josh Taylor and Cougar Andersen are lifelong friends. They've been wrestling together for as long as they can remember.
Now, Taylor and Andersen have become the second pair of teammates to win four consecutive state titles in Oklahoma history.
The only other time a pair won four state titles was in 2014 when two Collinsville wrestlers performed the feat.
Only 40 other wrestlers in the history of Oklahoma have won four straight state championships.
Andersen said the key to consistent success comes down to sacrifice.
"Don't be an average high schooler," Andersen said. "Like, don't go to parties. Don't go and do all the stupid stuff they're doing on their free time. Go and get some work in. Do some extra wrestling."
Taylor and Andersen said every practice is a competition. Sometimes, not a friendly one.
"We haven't since like sophomore year,” Taylor said. “We tried to fight each other over there. We go hard every time we get a hold of each other. It's always fun, though. It's fun rolling around with someone who knows what they're doing."
"To the public, that kind of seems crazy but, like, that's been me and Josh's goal since we were young," Andersen said. “So, it's kind of like, we expect it from ourselves."
Skiatook will compete in the dual team state wrestling tournament next Friday.
Andersen and Taylor said they are confident they’ll leaving with more hardware.
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