Marion qualifies 5, Hillsboro 4 for state wrestling

Written by Janae Rempel & Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 19 February 2013 13:48

Five Warrior wrestlers qualified for state at the Class 3-2-1A regional wrestling tournament at Fredonia Friday and Satur­day, propelling the Warriors to a fourth-place team finish with 118.5 points behind Fredonia (170.5), Cherryvale (136) and Caney Valley (128).

“We wrestled very well,” coach Chad Adkins said. “We have the ability to win state medals in Hays.

“We just have to go be aggressive and wrestle our style. To win a state championship, we will have to wrestle the best tournament of the year.”

Senior Brody Carroll paved the way for Marion by winning the 152-pound weight class. Sophomore Beretta Janzen placed second at 113, while senior Evan Slater placed third at 220. Senior Eric Regnier and sophomore Adam Janzen also qualified with fourth-place finishes at 126 and 182, respectively.

Carroll (37-2) won his first match by pinning Lucas Alvarez of Douglass at 1:41. He then won by technical fall over Jake Kickhaefer of Herington (17-0) before defeating Daegan Asebedo of Wellsville 7-2. In the championship match, Carroll pinned Reid Hugo of Cherryvale at 3:33.

Beretta Janzen (18-7) won his first match by pinning Trevor Glasgow of Burlington at 1:09. He then defeated Austin Swartz of Council Grove 5-3 in overtime. In the finals, Janzen fell to Trey Francka of Chase County 4-0.

Slater (33-6) won his first two matches by pinning Brandon Quaney of Burlingame at 0:53 and Adam Higginbotham of Mound City–Jayhawk Linn at 1:30. He then fell in the semifinals to Gus Farthing of Burlington 3-1 in overtime. In the consolation bracket, Slater pinned Clayton Jackson of Chase County at 1:17 and then won the third-place match by forfeit over Anthony Gonzalez of Fredonia.

After a first-round bye, Regnier (17-23) won his quarterfinal match by pinning Joey Cunningham of Wellsville at 5:39. He then fell to Guy Kinder of Caney Valley in the semifinals, being pinned at 0:48. In the consolation bracket, Regnier pinned Kaylee Grogan of Fredonia at 1:17, but dropped the third place match to DJ Cook of Cherryvale, being pinned at 3:34.

Adam Janzen (23-9) won his first two matches by pinning Travis Venn of Burden Central at 1:14 and Eduardo Acosta of Council Grove at 2:48. Janzen was then pinned by Kaden Housel at 1:16 in the semifinals. In the consolation bracket, Janzen pinned Wyatt Anderson of Caney Valley at 0:56, but was pinned by Hunter Ackermann of Douglass at 3:23 in the third-place match.

Adkins said he was “very proud” of the entire team.

“They have been warriors this year,” he said.

Three Warriors fell one win short of qualifying for state: freshman Remington Putter (120), senior Brayden Putter (138) and junior Zac Lewman (170).

After a first-round bye, Remington Putter (19-16) fell to Jon Carey of Hillsboro in the quarterfinals, being pinned at 2:53. In the consolation bracket, Putter won by major decision over Jed Humig of Rosalia-Flinthills 10-0 and followed by pinning Drake Champagne of Howard West Elk at 3:55. In the consolation semifinals, Putter was defeated by Taylor Wilmarth of Wellsville 4-2.

Brayden Putter (15-10) received a first-round bye at 138, then was pinned by Trever Melcher of Herington at 3:46 in the quarterfinals. In the consolation bracket, Putter won by forfeit over Colt Gordon of Howard West Elk and then pinned Mikel Houser of Douglass at 2:14. Putter fell to Chuck Schmidt of Eureka in the consolation semifinals 9-4.

After a first-round bye, Lewman (22-24) was pinned by Derek Bayless of Caney Valley at 0:47 in the quarterfinals. In the consolation bracket, he defeated Taylor Nuss of Herington 5-2 then pinned Tad Herrmann of Mound City–Jayhawk Linn at 1:54 before dropping by major decision to Dusty Cook of Cherryvale 11-2.

Other wrestlers who competed but will not advance included junior Luke Steele (145), senior Derrick Dvorak (160) and junior John Nordquist (195).

Steele was pinned by Michael Kunard of Wellsville at 1:34. Following a consolation first-round bye, Steele won his next two matches by pinning Corey Gyuran of Council Grove at 2:13 and Tanner Schneider of Herington at 2:40 before being pinned by Chris Ferguson of Burlington at 0:56.

Dvorak (14-20) was pinned by Cody Easterday of Leon-Bluestem at 3:04 and then pinned by Ricky Bemis in the consolation bracket at 4:44.

Nordquist (17-12) opened by pinning Gary Boyer of Whitewater – Remington at 1:49 but then was pinned by Ryan Anderson of Council Grove at 1:04. In the consolation bracket, Nordquist pinned Tommy Finley of Fredonia at 3:54, then was pinned by Drake Whalen of Osage City at 4:39.

“Brayden Putter and Derrick Dvorak were our two seniors that didn’t qualify, and I am very proud of them for everything that they have accomplished in their career,” Adkins said. “They have meant a lot to our program.”

Coming—The Class 3-2-1A state tournament is scheduled to begin Friday at 10 a.m. at Fort Hays State University with competition continuing through Saturday.

Hillsboro’s Preston Nelson maneuvers Fredonia’s Grant Rubin closer to a pin during their consolation bracket match. Nelson pinned Rubin in 44 seconds. He just missed qualifying for state by one match win.

Hillsboro qualified four wrestlers for state, including one weight-class champion and two runners-up, at the Class 3-2-1A regional tournament in Fre­donia Friday and Saturday.

Freshman Aaron Cross continued his outstanding debut season at Hillsboro by winning the 145-pound class. Tanner Jones and Tyrell Thiessen placed second at 170 and 285, respectively, and Jon Carey qualified by placing fourth at 120.

“I am very excited to see these four young men compete on the state level,” coach Scott O’Hare said. “I think with a good focused week of practice, they are all prepared to compete at this level, and I believe they have a great shot at placing.”

Cross (33-8) won all four of his regional matches by pin: Tanner Schneider of Herington at 0:36, Dakota Cline of Eureka at 0:31, Lane Moran of Bluestem at 1:46 and Rian Lahey of Erie in the title match at 3:24.

Jones (29-­10) won his first two matches by pinning Josh Forbes of Erie at 3:27 and Dane Engro of Douglass at 5:51. He then defeated Dusty Cook of Cherry­vale 3-­2 in the semifinals before losing 7-5 to Derek Bayless of Caney Valley in the finals. Cook was ranked fifth in the state and Bayless fourth.

Thiessen (30-5) won his first three matches by pinning his opponents: Kolton Carbon of Jay­hawk Linn at 0:44, Quintin McGehee of Remington at 1:06, and Jake Green of Central Heights at 1:16. In the title match, he lost to Billy Merser­eau of Cherryvale, 3-­2.

Carey, meanwhile, defeated Tristin Fetters of Council Grove 5-­0, pinned Remington Putter of Marion at 2:53, then lost to­ Sam Aylor of Fredonia 7-0. In the consolation bracket he defeated Fetters again, 12-­5, then lost in the third-place match to Taylor Wilmarth of Wellsville 8-6 in overtime.

“Jon wrestled his best tournament of his high school career,” O’Hare said. “I had a feeling he might surprise some people here late in the season.”

Meanwhile, O’Hare said he was proud of the Trojans who did not advance to state.

Junior Preston Nelson (21-7) fell one win short of qualifying at 152, going 3-2 for the day. He pinned Colton Haney of ­Chase County at 0:45 in the first round, then was pinned by Daegan Asebedo of Wellsville at 5:08.

In the consolation bracket he pinned Grant Rubin of Fredonia at 0:44 and Jake Kickhaefer of Herington at 0:32 before being pinned in the consolation semifinals by Lucas McMichael of Burden Central.

At 160, sophomore Jesse Meier (14-26) went 1-2. He pinned Colton Wagoner of ­Chase County in the first round at 2:30, then was pinned by Braden Sherman of Fredonia at 5:08.

In the consolation bracket, Meier pinned Ricky Bemis of Burling­ton at 0:54 before losing by major decision, 12-4, to Kaleb Grimsley of Central Heights.

Freshman Levi Mendoza (12-19) went 1-2 at 182. He lost by major decision, 14-5, to Nathan Vander Linden of Burlington in his first match, then defeated Chris Ray of Eureka 7-­5 before being pinned by Eduardo Acosta of Council Grove at 1:42.

Freshman Franklin Jost (3-­13) went 1-2 at 195, losing by pin to­ Drake Whalen of Osage City, then pinning Broker Whittaker of West Elk at 4:26 before being pinned by Joel Hayes of Doug­lass at 1:30.

Coming—The Class 3-2-1A state tournament will begin at 10 a.m. Friday and will continue through Saturday at Fort Hays State University.

Hillsboro’s matchups for the first round are as follows:

• Jon Carey (11-16) will be facing Macrae Migchelbrink (37-3) from Rawlins County.

• Austin Cross (37-8) will face Brandon Schoenthaler (18-17) of Trego County.

• Tanner Jones (32-11) will open his second year at state competition against Dalton Blow (26-9) from Onaga.

• Tyrell Thiessen (33-6) will start his second appearance at state against Laramie Lumley (22-7) of Sublette.