KYRON COPE-MHS
Considering he didn’t take part in organized athletics until eighth grade, Muskogee High senior Kyron Cope has come a long way.
As a two-year starter for the Rougher football team, Kyron has been a part of three years of playoff action for Muskogee including a state championship his sophomore year. This season the muscled-up Kope, who enjoys spending time in the weight room, recorded 72 tackles and five sacks from his defensive end spot and was named to the All-District team. But he is also an accomplished wrestler for the Roughers and he talked about that side of his athletic career.
“I got in trouble in the eighth grade and was only able to play one football game, so my friends talked me into trying wrestling and I just liked the physicality of it from the start and have been wrestling ever since,” said Cope. “I like that wrestling is an individual sport for the most part and it’s just you on that mat deciding whether you win or lose.”
Senior leadership also takes on a different role in wrestling than in football according to Cope.
“Even though wrestling is mostly an individual sport, there is a leadership aspect to it as well because we have so many young guys this year. In football you might have several team captains, but in wrestling there are far fewer so being a captain and a leader means a little more responsibility in wrestling,” said the avid weightlifter who says the blast double is his best wrestling move.
With football wrapped up and wrestling in early season, Kyron is in a transition mode between the two which can be difficult he says.
“It’s a big change going from football to wrestling particularly in conditioning. I’d like to think I’m in pretty good shape after a season of football, but I wrestled a match the other day and it wore me out,” laughed Cope. “In football there’s a lot of stop-and-go where you can get a breather but in wrestling once you’re on the mat you have to go full out for nine minutes.”
Kyron says his goal this year is to win at least 20 matches and qualify for state as he also considers offers to play college football somewhere next year.
