By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
As a first-year head coach you might think that Washburn Rural's Josh Hogan would have been fighting some nerves heading into Saturday's Centennial League wrestling tournament at Highland Park.
After all, there is a certain amount of pressure that goes with being the two-time defending champ.
But Hogan said he was comfortable putting everything in the hands of his Junior Blues, who went out and claimed their third consecutive team crown by a 202.5-174.5 margin over Manhattan.
"I know what the kids are capable of,'' Hogan said. "The last couple of times we wrestled I think we didn't wrestle as good as I thought we could, so we've really been pushing them hard and motivating them in practice to kind of step it up and I think they stepped up to the pump today and responded to what we've been working on in practice.''
The Rural boys had seven wrestlers crowned league champions, led by four-time champ Austin Fager.
Fager won the 182-pound title with a 46-second win by pin over Emporia junior Davian White in the championship match, improving to 33-2 on the season.
"It's obviously nice to come in here with a new head coach and pick up where we left off, like nothing's ever happened,'' Fager said. "We've been getting right after business and coming out here and taking teams down one by one.
"We're going to try to do that for the rest of the year as well.''
Washburn Rural senior Austin Fager won his fourth Centennial League individual title Saturday, helping lead the Junior Blues to their third straight team crown. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Two-time state champion Jacob Tangpricha won his second straight Centennial League individual title Saturday, helping Rural win its third straight team crown. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Sophomore Jon Morrison (113 pounds), junior Henri McGivern (120) and senior Jacob Tangrpicha (126) all captured their second straight league championshis while Rural also got titles from freshman 106-pounder Easton Boxterman, sophomore 132-pounder Brody Byrne and senior 160-pounder Aidan Boline while freshman 152-pound Kristjan Marshall added a second-place finish.
Broxterman, now 33-4 on the season, was named the Centennial League newcomer of the year and Hogan was named the league coach of the year.
Six Rural wrestlers are ranked in 6A by the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association, led by top-ranked Boline (26-7) and Fager. Broxterman and Morrison (28-5) are second-ranked while Tangpricha (28-5) is No. 4 and McGivern (15-6) No. 6.
Seaman, which finished fourth as a team, got individual titles from freshman Deyton Mentzer at 170 pounds and junior Jaxson Thomas at 195 pounds.
Seaman junior Jaxson Thomas won the 195-pound Centennial League title Saturday, helping the Vikings finish fourth as a team. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Mentzer improved to 27-16 on the season while Thomas, sixth-ranked in 5A, improved to 39-8.
Highland Park's Morgan Dean (right) and Topeka High's Jhamari Pleasant battled in the Centennial League 285-pound final, with Dean winning by pin. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Highland Park senior Morgan Dean (26-7) won the league title in an all-city 285-pound championship match, with Dean earning a pin at the 3:25 mark over Topeka High seniorJhamari Pleasant (18-8).
CENTENNIAL LEAGUE BOYS WRESTLING
Team scores
Washburn Rural 202.5, Manhattan 174.5, Emporia 154, Seaman 140, Topeka High 53, Topeka West 51, Junction City 49, Hayden 42, Highland Park 30.5.
Individual results
106 -- Championship: Broxterman, Washburn Rural, pinned Malone, Emporia, 0:29. Third: Thompson, Seamsn, dec. Curry, Highland Park, 13-11.
113 -- Championship: Morrison, Washburn Rural, pinned. Borge, Manhattan, 1:53. Third: Foster, Seaman, pinned Padilla, Junction City, 1:58.
120 -- Championship: McGivern, Washburn Rural, dec. Petrusky, Junction City, 4-1. Third: Anderson, Emporia, pinned Kruse, Seaman, 0:54.
126 -- Championship: Tangpricha, Washburn Rural, dec. Hainline, Emporia, 8-7. Third: Agnew, Manhattan, pinned Carey, Junction City, 3:55.
126 -- Championship: Griffin, Emporia, pinned R. Murray, Seaman, 1:55. Third: Gallegos, Washburn Rural, pinned Caycedo, Manhattan, 0:43.
132 -- Championship: Byrne, Washburn Rural, def. Blake, Junction City, 4-2. Third: Little, Seaman, pinned Radi, Junction City, 0:36.
138 -- Championship: Taylor, Manhattan, pinned Vickers, Topeka West, 1:18. Third: Carey, Washburn Rural, pinned Smith, Topeka High, 4:50.
145 -- Championship: Tungjaroenkul, Emporia, pinned Bammes, Manhattan, 5:24, Third: Best, Seaman, pinned Douglas, Washburn Rural, 2:15.
152 -- Championship: Brunner, Manhattan, maj. dec. Marshall, Washburn Rural, 13-4. Third: Criger, Emporia, dec. Jowers, Seaman, 5-3.
160 -- Championship: Boline, Washburn Rural, pinned Cook, Topeka West, 1:58. Third: Crady, Hayden, dec. Brown, Emporia, 4-3.
170 -- Championship: Mentzer, Seaman, pinned Trujillo, Emporia, 1:51. Third: Dobson, Manhattan, pinned Desch, Hayden, 0:35.
182 -- Championship: Fager, Washburn Rural, pinned White, Emporia, 0:46. Third: Reno, Seaman, pinned Tiede, Manhattan, 1:50.
195 -- Championship: Thomas, Seaman, pinned Vikander, Manhattan, 5:18. Third: Trujillo, Emporia, pinned Ceja, Topeka High, 1:21.
220 -- Championship: Houston, Manhattan, pinned Roman-Perez, Hayden, 2:46. Third: Perez, Topeka High, pinned Robinson, Topeka West, 4:47.
285 -- Championship: Dean, Highland Park, pinned Pleasant Topeka High, 3:25. Third: Brown, Seaman, pinned Bradley, Emporia, 2:35.
